In the locker room yesterday, a fellow swimmer approached me and said, “You are a very trusting person.” It was not your normal locker room banter. When I asked her why, she looked at my coat (an Amazon purchase from last winter) and said that only a trusting person would leave such a nice coat out for anyone to take. (I then asked if she was eyeing to take my coat. I am happy she said ‘no.’)
Sometimes we don’t put the issue of trust on the table until someone else points it out to us.
In an informal survey that my colleague Pearl Mattenson and I circulated, we found that many people are struggling with the issue of trust at work. Low motivation, a downturn in the economy, and the hybrid nature of our work lives can create a reality in which anxiety runs high and levels of trust run low.
How can we build High Trust work environments? And how do we, no matter what our position, become High Trust leaders? Steven Covey has a lot to say about this in his book, The Speed of Trust. And as with any change process, the first place to look is within ourselves.
We can all grow in becoming more trustworthy and extending greater trust to others. We do so by examining our own behaviors that form the cornerstone of our character. Behaviors like communicating directly, demonstrating respect, and being transparent. When we do, our relationships thrive and our teams succeed. But that takes practice.
Join Pearl Mattenson and me, February 14th @ 12pm EDT, 7pm Israel time, to practice stretching and strengthening our trust muscles in the seminar, Building Trust at Work: It Starts with You. Please register no later than Sunday February 12th.
As Steven Covey writes, “Trust is the glue of life. It's the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It's the foundational principle that holds all relationships.”
Let’s learn how to strengthen it together,
