Trust is a concept familiar to many and is often discussed as an essential component to effective working teams.\u00a0 We talk about \u201ctrusting environments\u201d and \u201ctrust-building exercises.\u201d\u00a0 In fact, trust is present in almost everything we do in our jobs, from working collaboratively within teams to the relationships we have with our clients, vendors and consultants.<\/p>\n
But what do we really mean by the term \u201ctrust?\u201d\u00a0 For many, it is simply an emotional expression of confidence. \u00a0But there is much more to it than that.<\/p>\n
Trust is actually comprised of sincerity, reliability and competence.\u00a0 When someone says \u201cI trust you,\u201d they are really making three distinct assessments.<\/p>\n
Sincerity <\/strong>refers to the capacity of someone to be honest in their intention and communication \u2013 that what he or she says can be believed.\u00a0 It also suggests that what someone says has validity or credibility that is backed by evidence or sound thinking.\u00a0 We can trust what he says.<\/p>\n Reliability \u2013<\/strong> When someone is reliable, we can be confident that she will meet the commitments she made.\u00a0 She will keep her promises.\u00a0 We can trust that she will do what she says she will do.<\/p>\n Competence \u2013<\/strong> We assess that someone is competent when they have the ability to do what they say they can do.\u00a0 We trust that he has the skill, knowledge and resources to fulfill his commitment.<\/p>\n When sincerity, reliability and competence are aligned, we enjoy trusting relationships.\u00a0 However, if one of these is unaligned, we suffer a lack of trust.\u00a0 In working with teams that have suffered some sort of breakdown in trust, it is always important to move from the emotional basis of \u201clack of trust,\u201d where people are stuck in some form of hurt or injury, and move it into the domains of sincerity, reliability or competence.<\/p>\n One struggling team that I worked with involved a physician and his chief practice nurse. They had suffered a breakdown of trust after a disagreement during a challenging patient interaction.\u00a0 This distrust festered over a few months and by the time I was called, the two were barely communicating \u2013 quite a serious problem that had the capacity to jeopardize patient care.<\/p>\n My first intervention was to have them \u201cdiagnose\u201d their breakdown in trust.\u00a0 Was it a lack of sincerity, reliability or competence?\u00a0 While the initial conflict was cited by both as the point at which trust was lost, I found that there were key breakdowns leading to the confrontation that were the true sources of discord.\u00a0 Turns out the physician had been concerned about the nurse\u2019s reliability \u2013 she had called in sick on a number of occasions and although he felt she had the necessary skills and good intentions, her poor attendance caused him to question her reliability.\u00a0 On the other hand, the nurse felt that the physician was not telling her the truth about why he moved some of her casework to another nurse \u2013 she felt he was insincere and she did not believe him or trust his intentions.<\/p>\n Once we were able to diagnose the breakdown, the nurse and the doctor were able to have an open conversation about the sources of their distrust.\u00a0 With this conversation on the table, we were able to start the process of restoring trust.\u00a0 The work involved in restoring trust is not always easy, but it is always achievable if both parties are willing to work together.\u00a0 It involves:<\/p>\n In the case of the nurse and the doctor, once they were able to openly discuss the physician\u2019s concern about the nurse\u2019s attendance and reliability, the physician was able to speak truthfully about his reassignments \u2013 something he had not done before.\u00a0 Each had something to acknowledge and apologize for:\u00a0 The nurse for her poor attendance which led to his questioning her reliability, and the physician for his lack of candor and honesty.<\/p>\n Next, each participant made an explicit request of the other \u2013 she requested that he be more sincere, and he requested that she be more reliable.\u00a0 After that, each made a commitment to trust the other going forward \u2013 he by reassigning the duties back to the nurse, and she by not further questioning his truthfulness.<\/p>\n It is important to note that this last step is often the most difficult.\u00a0 Putting yourself in a position of vulnerability to another person\u2019s actions when that person has previously let you down is a difficult thing to do.\u00a0 However, it is an essential ingredient to restoring trust.<\/p>\n Managing trust in the workplace is profoundly difficult and restoring trust even more so.\u00a0 But it is not impossible and it is absolutely necessary if you are to thrive as an organization.\u00a0 If you face distrust in your workplace or would like to learn more about it, I recommend two books:\u00a0 The Thin Book of Trust<\/em> by Charles Feltman and Steven Covey\u2019s The Speed of Trust<\/em>. And if you need some additional help, we at Affinity HR Group are here to help.<\/p>\n By Claudia St. John, President \u2013 Affinity HR Group, LLC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Trust is a concept familiar to many and is often discussed as an essential component to effective working teams.\u00a0 We talk about \u201ctrusting environments\u201d and \u201ctrust-building exercises.\u201d\u00a0 In fact, trust is present in almost everything we do in our jobs, from working collaboratively within teams to the relationships we have with our clients, vendors and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n