How is your organization using digital technologies to build trust?

Destructive behaviors in the workplace tend to get in the way of achieving results. In her book, Dare to Lead: Daring Greatly and Rising Strong at Work, Brené Brown lists these bad behaviors as the behaviors business leaders say are most often getting in the way.

Do any of these sound familiar?

• We avoid tough conversations, including giving honest, constructive feedback.
• We experience diminishing trust due to a lack of empathy and connection.
• Setbacks, disappointments, and failures cause people to get stuck, requiring time and energy to reassure them of their contribution and value.
• People opt out of vital conversations about diversity and inclusivity because they fear looking wrong, saying something wrong, or being wrong.
• Organizational values are assessed in terms of aspirations instead of actual behaviors that can be taught, measured, and evaluated.
• Spending unreasonable time managing problematic behaviors instead of proactively managing fears and feelings associated with change and uncertainty.
• Not enough people with the courage to take smart risks and create or share bold ideas to meet the changing and insatiable demand for innovation.
• Too much shame and blame and not enough accountability and learning.
• Individuals and teams are rushing into ineffective or unsustainable solutions rather than focusing on problem identification and solving. Fixing the wrong thing causes the same problems to resurface.
• Perfectionism and fear keep people from learning and growing.

Work behaviors and organizational culture concerns stem from deep human issues.

The most important of which is fear. Fear drives many irrational decisions. Courage in the face of fear, however, is what we want. It's not fear per se driving those work behavior and organizational culture concerns. It's the response to fear.

Building trust is critical.

Trust is the currency of all relationships, whether friendship, spousal, familial, or professional. Without it, connecting with others and working as a high-performing team is impossible. Educator, entrepreneur, and globally recognized author of the best-selling 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey, said this

Trust is the glue of life. It's the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It's the foundational principle that holds all relationships.

Today, digital technologies enable extremely rapid connection. In seconds, we can connect with almost anyone across the globe. That power to connect is unprecedented in human history.

Trust, however, transforms our connections into relationships. How is your organization using digital technologies to build trust?

Trust is essential to attracting clients, leading teams, and building partnerships, all of which are critical to winning in the digital era.

Rapidly establishing trust through authenticity and value delivery is the holy grail.

When building and leading your team, trust means being vulnerable and creating safety to be vulnerable.

Why is vulnerability critical? According to Brene Brown, vulnerability is a foundational skill for innovation. Innovation drives growth.

People must be safe to experiment, obtain feedback, and iterate rapidly. So, we need our leaders and teams to have the courage to fail.

Trust frequently means confidence in data security when engaging with customers and partners in our increasingly hyperconnected data-driven world.

Leveraging cloud solutions from trusted technology providers can quickly overcome cybersecurity concerns presented by on-premises and proprietary solutions.

Barriers to establishing trust can also be overcome by leveraging the goodwill of partners and ecosystem communities.

I think technology platform providers can be beneficial in this regard. Building trust in our organizations to overcome work behavior and organizational concerns or building trust in your information systems by leveraging cloud services from trusted technology providest is critical to winning in your digital transformation journey.