Creating Trust via Mindful Consistency

Think about it... one day someone tells you that doing a certain thing is good and the next day they say doing that exact same thing in the same context is bad... it's not surprising that this might cause a bit of confusion and distrust! And of course things are more complex and complicated than this... i.e. laws change, very similar contexts have subtle and important differences, relationships change, everything changes, etc... but if a foundational inconsistency is perceived - rightly or wrongly - by others, it shakes trustworthiness to the very core.

Personally, shaken trustworthiness can erode even the deepest of friendships... how on earth can we rely on someone who is drastically different from one moment to the next! How can we know that confiding in another is a sensible thing to do?... which becomes even more confusing when it feels like the tectonic plates upon which our relationship rests are in constant and an overly unstable motion?! This sure makes it hard to trust another person.

Professionally, a lack of consistency and too much change begins to feel indecisive or if the foundations of decisions are not well-established; i.e. it can feel as if there is no real vision other than trying to convince customers, and thus primary motivation is also brought into question by a lack of consistency.

For instance, when a business changes names every few years without significant changes to the value or services they provide, why are they doing that? What is the reason for the business in the first place, and if they themselves keep changing their mind why would anyone else feel the value of their services to be a good place to dedicate their own professional development, personally or collectively as an organization?

Like any company, Mindful Life, Mindful Work, Inc. has had its share of challenges over the years, but consistency has not been one of them. Consistency in all things is essential to creating public trust. Consistency in marketing, consistency in value provided, consistency of intention and motivation, consistency of internal team practices, consistency in overall accountability and responsibility... to name a few!

Consistency does not mean 'not adapting', as iteration and being agile are essential to an individual's or organization's continued success. Services, products, and wording will change, but if major changes continually show up in the core mission this can become toxic to the success of a professional endeavor. One would be better off to start a completely different business in such instances.

Consistency creates 'credibility momentum', it creates a history of trustworthiness that cannot be faked or replaced with anything shiny or fancy. Consistency creates the possibility of truly relating personally and professionally... and doing so for real! Paired with a strong vision, consistency is also an affirmation of patience; i.e. when we know what we want (our vision) and we're consistent (patient) in our behaviors in the direction of our vision, then the likelihood that our vision will come to be is greatly increased because we don't feel as if we need it immediately. Clarity and consistency are essential in this regard.

Consistency also conveys that we trust the value that we are providing, and we trust it because we've experience that it truly is valuable. In professional endeavors, we must first trust our value if we hope to have others trust in it; conversely, if we don't trust our own value or feel impatient about it being perceived as valuable, then it makes no sense that others would be able to trust in the value that we ourselves doubt.

On the personal level, trust grows over time. Whether relational trust or psychological trust, the way in which we grow trust is slowly. To do this we run mini 'experiments' to see if trusting makes sense... if we discover that an experiment went well, then we trust a tiny bit more the next time... and so on! In part, these mini experiments are an assessment of consistency in our relationships.

This same mindful practice applies professionally... customers or colleagues don't fully trust each other immediately, nor should they. Trust grows over time because we as individuals or companies are consistent in our words and actions; if we are not, we must look in the mirror and admit to ourselves that we have not been trustworthy, that we have not earned nor deserved the trust of others.

In conclusion, consistency is an important foundation of trust, but is also the foundation of mindful iteration and adaptation. A mindful and mature company (or person for that matter) knows when and where to rock the boat in a way that doesn't bring into question the overall trustworthiness of the boat itself.

What has been your experience with the relationship between consistency and trust?

Please share this article with your networks and let me know if there are specific topics you'd like to see addressed in future editions of this newsletter.

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In addition to its work in companies,?Mindful Life, Mindful Work, Inc.?hosts an online network for mindful professionals... the?Mindful Professionals Network (MPN)?is a network of professionals committed to applying mindful practices and approaches.

Join the Mindful Professionals Network

For those wanting to grow mindful(ness) projects and partnerships, apply for the?Mindful Business Incubator Group (MBIG). This curated think-tank is a collection of mindful professionals and entrepreneurs, some of whom are internal to companies and some external, all with the common goal of growing how companies utilize and leverage mindfulness-informed thinking, practices, and services.

MBIG Details and Application

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Jonathan Reynolds is founder and CEO of?Mindful Life, Mindful Work, Inc., a San Francisco based leadership development company providing services that address the intersection of self-awareness and team performance. Since 1997, Jonathan has trained extensively in the discipline of mindfulness, and his work with leaders emphasizes simple and practical ways to improve performance, efficiency, and workplace cultures by integrating mindfulness sensibilities.