How the Outside-In® Companies Do The Whole Trust Thing

Last week, my company celebrated a Values Holiday around our core value of Trust. Every twenty or so business days we focus our attention on reinforcing one of our twenty values. This is incredibly powerful stuff as “culture work” helps us all be mindful of expected behaviors in our workplace. I jump out of bed every single day because our values are ubiquitous to all the roles we play and all the people we meet.

Trust for me was learned behavior. Not that I was untrustworthy as a young person. I just did not understand that my very character was shaped by my words, thoughts, and actions. I remember being a young college kid just starting to date (the girl who I knew was the one, and I married her!) Kim held my up to high standard and I guess her perspective and opinion really mattered to me so I lived up to it. She simply taught me to be trustworthy by expecting it and as in any important relationship, I did not want to let her down. I think the challenge for all of us is to adopt this approach in more of the relationships in our life, not just the ones that we consider the most important!

So, I decided to do a survey on what constitutes trust in a relationship and I asked my team, “What type of actions and behaviors build trust?” Everyone has had different insights and experiences that shape them, however, all are valuable points of views. I hope you enjoy the trust thoughts as much as I did!

1. Being reliable.
2. Being up front with one another.
3. Honesty.
4. Constructive criticism.
5. Do what you say you will do.
6. When the person follows through, and does what they say they are going to do.
7. When you do something to assist the other person, without having to be asked, or better yet, when they are not expecting it.
8. Consistency.
9. Reliability.
10. Trust is something earned, not something that is given. Trust is earned over time as people prove that they are people of their word and simply that they are worthy of trust.
11. Without a doubt, honesty builds a relationship more than anything else. Honesty is an essential building block, and without it you don’t have much, if anything!
12. Honesty. Consistent, unwavering, believable honesty.
13. Knowing someone on a personal level and their ability to be direct in communication.
14. I am really impressed, and inclined to go the extra mile, when someone helps me even though it was not necessary or expected. They just helped me because they were being team-based, or simply generous. That makes me see the person differently and help them at any opportunity. It is more than returning a favor. It is more like I have elevated that person to a new level of respect. It doesn’t even have to be something done for me – it can simply be that I observed a person’s kindness when “no one was looking”. That is big for me.
15.  Aaaahhhh Trust. Trust is like money yet more valuable. It takes time to build or accumulate, but can be blown in an instant of bad decision. What builds trust? Proving you’re trustworthy not by what you say, but by doing what you said you would do. In order to maintain trust, one must be honest, humble, and genuine.
16. Being honest and following through while not “over-talking” others. By “over-talking,” I’m referring to talking at a higher level than necessary or for the audience to understand. Always strikes me as dishonest and that they are doing it to hide or shade over something.
17. For me, the formation of trust occurs over time, and with effort from both sides. I think one of the reasons that our team works so well together is because we’ve developed a deep level of trust of over the past six months. We take the time to genuinely get to know each other, as colleagues and as friends. We build trust both at work and outside of work, even if it’s as simple as a 30 minute lunch where we talk about our families. An important component of building trust is earning it by following through on tasks, or being there to lend a hand without being asked. I trust that my team will support my decisions and be there if I need council. I also trust that they will not take judgement, and instead will help me to learn and grow from the situation.

Trust is a two way street. And my favorite insight from the team? Trust takes much more time to earn than it does to lose it. Gone in a moment as they say.

Take my personal challenge and try to answer the question yourself—how often do you live these suggestions in building trust? All of us can do better. What type of person are you when it comes to trust?

In order for trust to be built, you need a drive commitment from both parties. Both must be open to building and maintaining that trust. Formation of trust takes a long time, but can be lost in a matter of moments.

Trust is a regular deposit in a relationship—it must be balanced but always must be nurtured.