Trust or not Trust? That is the question.

Have you ever got the saying from someone saying that they trust you? You probably will answer Yes. In this new discussion I would like to bring some dimensions around TRUST.

To start talking about trust, I would like to bring a subject that came to my attention this week: Benevolence, the act and behavior that involves long term thinking, concerning performance and well-being of others. And doing some research I found this simple representation that explain the dimensions of Trust: Integrity, Ability and Benevolence.

Moreover, benevolent leaders?transmit their role expectations to their followers?and tend to use friendly and compassionate actions to inspire followers' sense of responsibility and loyalty to their expected roles. In addition, benevolent leaders can instill trust in their followers (Wasti et al., 2011).

Many leaders think that leadership demands authority and power, and that is the normal though of weak leaders. The reason lies on their subconscious self-defense mechanism threatening their positions and status. In other hand, the benevolent leader wishes well for all, learning how one action has an impact in other people.

I found those 8 characteristics of a benevolent leader that I would like to share with you:

1. Committed to make a society better, inside and outside the organization, but not with expense of anyone.
2. Approachable and Accessible.
3. Welcome good news and invite bad news. Both must be faced.
4. Communicate and communicate. The flow is most important at all.
5. Take a genuine engagement and knowledge about their people. Understand they are not machines.
6. Walk around finding people to do things right, celebrating achievement, rewarding success, and acknowledging advancement.
7. They are servant leaders. Exist to serve, not to be served.
8. They earn advancement in their career.

Benevolence is always based on people relationships and will be perceived at minimum by two persons, two organizations, two companies, etc. The factor is 2 and up. When you are benevolent to yourself only, you are practicing charity and that is important to give back to society. However that is not the main fuel in a company. The company must be profitable and benevolent leaders are also aware on these responsibilities they care associated to their positions.

Benevolent Leaders use their Integrity and Ability to put people moving and achieve the common good. And as any relationship, the integrity, the moral values and the ethics around trustor and trustee, is what defined a trustable relationship. Sometimes there are explicit behaviours or implicit perceptions, how we assume or agreed on a certain level of expectations. But there are thin lines hidden that, if not well communicate will create a distrust.?

I like to see Trust and Integrity in two directions as well. You can be Trustworthy but not having an integrity or ethical behavior. Let suppose you will give your word that an activity will be performed on time and as agreed. You gave your word and people Trust you. However, to perform it you must break some rules or act in an unethical manner that can damage your reputation, and you are willing to do it, to take the risk. Does it resonate to you? Have you ever been an unethical trustworthy person? Some people will label it as a good or bad character.?

The integrity is yours and only dimension that represents your values and beliefs in a relationship and doesn’t depend on anyone, besides you. Trust as I mentioned is a relationship that need more than one person.?People of integrity have a reputation for being trustworthy, which is earned over time. I believe that integrity and trust give you peace within, respect, and boundless opportunities.

There is a good quote from?William Penn?that I love to represent Integrity.

It is not because that is "the way we do it here" that it must be right. It is not because other people is doing, that you have to do it. It is about how and what you will be doing that relies on who you are, that will define your character.

But what if you don’t have the ability to perform something you say you will do and are not prepared for it? Are you being honest with you? Will people trust you?

That is why the ability of performing what you promise to do, influences how people trust you or not. Ability is having knowledge, skills, or competencies that allow an individual to have in?uence in a speci?c area (Gubbins & MacCurtain, 2008; Mayer, Davis and Schoorman, 1995).?What this means is that without the knowledge you can move ahead and try, but with the conscious you are taking to damage your reputation.?

I’m not telling that you must be paralyzed if you don’t have the skills or knowledge to do it, because we can always learn something new. What I’m saying is that is important to use your Integrity and be transparent about what you know or can achieve. Don’t do false promises. No one like to face disappointment in time.?

I’m in favor of long-life learning and we were born knowing nothing. The learning process is part of our education and evolution. The more you invest in yourself, the more you will grow and increase your own trust. Believing in yourself is the fuel of fighting the impostor syndrome, where we believe that we can’t accomplished something we know we can, but are fearing the judgement of other people. But that is for another Truth talk about Vulnerability and Impostor Syndrome.

Trust or not Trust? That is the question.

To answer this question, you must balance your own Ability and Integrity, in order to find how to apply to your relationships. Make a simple exercise. Every time you engage with someone, try to balance how much have you been honest, sticking to your personal values and trust reputation. Make a simple chart with two columns: Trustworthy x Not Trustworthy. Have a look after some time and answer some of those questions:

• How much do I care about this relationship?
• Does have this relationship the three dimensions of Trust?
• How strong is each dimension of Integrity, Ability or Benevolence?
• Am I being honest to myself?
• How will I ensure that this trustable relationship will be maintained?

Simple questions will give you simple answers. Make a balance in your life and get closer to people you care and you trust. They will feel your authenticity and give the same back to you. At the end Trust brings peace in mind, in heart and in your soul.

What kind of question can you add to the list to evaluate how trustable and trustworthy are you? Share your thoughts.

By Gustavo Santos

Inspirational leader, Mentor and International Executive.