Always Insist on Trust First

No Business Venture or healthy personal/professional relationship will last long if it is not built on a foundation of Trust. Trust is an essential part of any relationship or venture that we embark on. Always insist on building Trust first before anything is done or expectations of deliverables set.

"For Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs, Business is never just Business... Business is also very personal because they deal with a lot of people.

This reality necessitates the creation of a stable foundation of trust"

Trust is knowing that the person who is working with you is invested in achieving the same or similar goals as you do and that they will get the job done in a reliable way.

Trust is having the confidence that the person or people you are working with will cover for you in the event that you are unable to and that you would do the same for them in return.

When you are operating a business on a high level or are involved in Leadership activities, you happen to depend on a number of people to do certain things that you cannot do, getting information about critical areas of concern to your business and going to places that you may not necessarily have time to go to. This means that you depend on these people to do these things right and to give you clear, useful and unbiased information. For these things to continue happening, you need to establish these relationships on a foundation of Trust first.

Suppose you want to start a new business venture and you need partners and have found several options to select from; how do you know which ones to trust and which ones not? Secondly, after selecting the partners you want, how do you create a foundation of trust that you new relationship may be able to grow on?

How to know whom to trust?

"First, Know Yourself.

Trust Yourself."

There is a quote in the book, the Richest Man in Babylon that goes, "If you want to lose money fast, go and join the company of those who are looking to gain money fast".

Relationships and business ventures built on trust last longer and are generally more profitable.

The first step to knowing whom to trust is to know yourself and Trust Yourself:

1. First understand yourself. Who are you?
2. What do you want to do and why?
3. What are your strengths and weaknesses?
4. In what areas do you want support and which areas do you want to cover?

Knowing yourself means that you can be able to clearly communicate who you are and what you want to do and why to the other stakeholders more clearly.

Once you communicate who you are to your to your stakeholders, they will feel like they know you more which helps create the initial base on which trust will be built on.

Having had done an honest assessment of your skills and capacity you should have a good idea of the things in the business that you will be able to handle considering the scope of your skills. Communicating these to your potential partners will also help build further the initial foundation of trust.

"Secondly, Know the other Person"

In the book by Suntzu titled "The art of War", he says that "if you know yourself and know your enemy, you need never fear the outcome of a hundred battles. If you know yourself and don't know your enemy, for every battle you will win you will lose a battle. If you do not know yourself and do not know your enemy you will leave yourself vulnerable to a lot of trouble and chaos." The emphasis here is that while you may not be dealing with war you are dealing human relations. You need to understand the other person.

You should always do your due dilligence in finding out exactly who you are going to be dealing with.

Understand who is involved -

1. Who is your potential partner(s)
2. Their background & reliability in getting things done?
3. What's in it for them?, What do they have to gain?
4. How much should they be trusted in delivering?
5. What are the strengths

Just because we are talking about abstract matters such as trust, it doesnt mean that we cannot be pragmatic in how we approach the isuue of building it. Even in trusting people , you need to have degrees to which you can trust them. Suppose you are looking to hire a new and fresh graduate from university to help deal with large amounts of money flowing within your business. Supposing they are a good person with a good heart that we like, that is not enough reason to trust them in managing all the businesses funds. You start off with small amounts and gradually increase it as their competency and experience grows. Never Trust Blindly!

A trustworthy person has a dependable character and personality

Continue Building on the Foundation on which to trust was established

Creating trust is not a one time event, it is an ongoing endeavor where through communication and approriate actions taken, continue inspiring the trust and loyalty of your business partners and stakeholders.

You will need to have a trust building strategy

To do this you will need to answer the following questions as the foundation to creating your Trust Strategy.

1. Do you have as trust building strategy? or Trust building plan?
2. How are you going to be building?trust with your suppliers and distributors?
3. How are you going to be building trust with your?with your customers?
4. How are you going to build trust in the community in which your business operates?
5. How are you building trust with your Partners and investors??
6. How are you going to build trust among your employees?
7. Do you have a communication strategy that accomodates the information needs of all your relevant stakeholders??
8. Do you have "standard operating procedures," in normal circumstances as well as those designed for times of Crises?

As you may see, building trust is not a one time event but an ongoing effort once you have chose the partners you are goig to be working with, consistent action, transparent and timely communication, and a well accomodating communications strategy will help establish trust and keep it growing within the organization.

While not often talked about, the importance of building relationships, personal and business, built on Trust is a very important consideration for new business owners and existing. If anything you should insist that every relationship needs to have the the foudations of Trust cementing them.