Part 2 of 8 - The Trust factor

Part 2 of 8 - The Trust factor

The fundamental of any association is “Trust in each other”.

The basic criteria, even to enter into a contract, is the “trust” that, parties of the contract shall ‘honour’ terms of contract. Hence for running any business, the most important ingredient is “Trust”. Lack of trust shall never get parties together to perform a task together.

In the context of construction contracting industry specifically in India, very often (if not always), we notice lack of trust amongst stake holders. The client has a trust deficit against the contractor for many reasons e.g., Contractors shall “cut corners” in specifications; shall raise undue claims; shall try to twist / interpret contract conditions; shall not deploy required resources; etc. The Consultant invariably thinks that the contractor might not follow norms & not abide by technical & contractual requirements. It is also true that the contractor thinks that consultants shall insist / demand for more than that of norms; client shall not agree legitimate claims, etc.

Such trust deficit against each other, just leads to creating a “Defense Mechanism” to protect each one’s interests, resulting in whole team just losing focus from basic purpose of coming together, in the project.

The contractor gets busy compiling & recording all matters, small or big. Similarly, the consultants as well as the client get busy in defending and vice-a-versa, resulting in shift of focus towards unnecessary and avoidable documentation & records creation against each other, without realizing that whole exercise is way too counterproductive. This creates fear psychosis amongst parties, who immediately resort to secure their positions.

The trust deficit also translates into laying down stringent contract conditions & harsh demands to follow tough processes in the contract, which obviously cost more resources, more time & more costs. More often, such atmosphere only aggravates the situation & the trust gap further widens resulting in damage to project implementation, either in terms of cost or time or both.

I am tempted to compare this phenomenon with other professions. Let’s take profession of Medical services or Legal services. These professions shall not be able to even function if the stakeholders don’t trust each other! The parties do trust each other completely without reservations, which is the most important or rather a “must” factor. Will any client approach a Medical practitioner or a Legal counsel for a consultation or a treatment with lack of trust? Certainly Not! Then why don’t we just trust each other in contracting business? In case something goes wrong, there can be an agreed mechanism for checks & balances for each stakeholder, which can be followed in words & spirit to resolve issues amicably.

The world shall be a great place if we trust each other, which shall help all of us in delivering our best, which shall be in the interest of each one, individually as well as for organisations we represent.

Why not follow – “Everyone is Innocent unless proven guilty” rather than “Everyone is Guilty unless proven Innocent”!

Trust thy partner!