How can you build trust when resolving conflicts in Emergency Management?

Interagency cooperation is essential in emergency management. In my area, we have small agencies that must work together to combine resources. Trust is believing that your partner agencies are equipped and trained to perform their part of the job. It also means believing that the cooperating agencies have the same overarching goal. The time to build trust is not during the crisis. Establishing and nurturing relationships- both at the line level and among leadership- with those other agencies is invaluable. As a wise old police chief told me, "The beginning of the disaster is no time for introductions."

Trust caries a two-fold element in emergency management systems. Indeed there is a measure of trust individual consultants place on individual leaders, that they possess an individualized loyalty to help THEM. But there is a bigger picture of trust in the form of picnic trust, that the leader can and will guide everyone out of the state of affairs they’re in, collectively as one populous. The ladder criteria focuses on the needs and wants of WE and not ME. But there is also a measure

While conducting supervisor and leadership classes the idea of "trust" always comes up and people say you must be able to trust each other. Well, we need to take this a step deeper. Trust involves a concept called being congruent. Congruent comes from mathematics, specifically geometry, and it means "having the same size and shape, or matching in size and shape." In applying this to behavior, your stated values and beliefs must match your actions, they must have the same matching dimensions. if your stated values and your actions don't match then people will expect something other than what you say you value. But when your espoused values and beliefs, or what you say you'll do matches the actual observed behavior they are congruent.

The easiest way is to ask. Ask the other person if they have trust in what you are saying, in your ability, knowledge, skills, etc. There is always a level of risk, and that is the subconscious evaluation that is the ongoing process in a person's mind. There are other factors that help assess trust: Past performance, cohesion level in a team or group, the past and current relationship, communication, etc. However, for me there was always an opportunity to make your words and actions match to help others see that you are being congruent.

Trust is about transparency and intellectual safety. One way to evaluate trust is to see how stakeholders at different levels of an organization view the same challenge. If the perception of risk diminishes as you move up the organizational hierarchy, this may be an indicator that clear communication of risk is not something people feel safe making.

By letting the other person know that there is some empathy and that you understand their feelings by restating how they feel in your feedback in the conversation. Start with acknowledging the feelings first and then showing that you have respect for them as a person. Display congruence and that you will do what you say you will do. Also, try to separate the person from the behavior in the conflict. It is the behavior that we may not like, but the person we do like. Let them know that we have to get away from violence and silence (the two main reactions to conflict) and get to shared meaning and understanding. Then you can start establishing trust.

Be congruent in stated values and expectations and actual behavior. Anything less will erode trust. As stated earlier in this article, being congruent is the deeper behavior of trust.

Building and maintaining trust in a conflict situation can be crucial for resolving issues and fostering positive relationships. It creates open and honest communication, transparency, consistency, reliability, accountability and collaboration. Trust in a conflict situation will help resolve the situation because fear is reduced by building the relationship. Develop and apply effective conflict resolution skills. The ability to navigate and resolve conflicts in a constructive manner builds trust among the parties involved. Demonstrating your commitment by following through on your promises and commitments. This consistently delivering on your word reinforces trust and proves you to be congruent.