Understanding Trust, a new formula

? TLDR ? Need a quick and easy way to remember key elements to build trust? Here is a new and short formula that merges ideas and concepts from some of the major thought leaders on the matter; Stephen M. R. Covey, David Maister, Patrick Lencioni, Ken Blanchard and Brené Brown.?

Here is the background story on the making of this formula:

I am in the midst of revising the content of our new leaders training program and my initial focus is on making sure they understand a fundamental concept, trust; how to be perceived as trustworthy, and how to create a safe work environment and culture that is conducive to building strong and trusting relationships among team members and colleagues.

Many authors have written on the matter over the years and came up with great equations, models, principles and behaviors. My intent in this article is to 1) summarize these models and 2) encapsulate them all through an easy to remember formula. As each one of these models touch on important traits and behaviors, I didn't think that narrowing my choice on only one for my program was the way to go. Instead I felt that finding a way to capture all of their essence together should help leaders quickly grasp the key elements of building trust, and me, as a leadership program facilitator explain them efficiently ;-)

My new proposed formula as you saw above goes like this:

Short and sweet, but capturing the essentials!?

The variables in this equation are:

(3 behaviors)

• Intent: Are you acting and demonstrating good motives and intention? And do others perceive it as such?
• Integrity: Do you act with integrity, are you believable, honest and sincere?
• Intimacy: Is your behavior making it safe and secure for me to trust you with something? Do I feel comfortable and reassured that I won’t be let down?

+

(and 6 traits)

• Caring: Do you consider other people’s needs in addition to yours when making decisions? Do you show genuine interest in others?? is the relationship important to you? Does it show?? Do you show empathy and warmth towards others?
• Capable: Do you have the competence and know how to accomplish your goals and tasks? Do you have sufficient knowledge for me to trust that you can complete your portion of the work effectively?
• Congruent: are you walking the talk? Are your behaviors, actions, words and body language aligned? Are you being authentic and self-aware?

+?

• Reliable: Can they trust that you will do what you said you would? Can people count on you to complete your part of the work on collaborative projects?
• Respectful: are you acting in a respectful and non-judgmental manner? Are you able to really listen, and seek to understand, before being understood?
• Results-oriented: do you have a good track record in delivering expected results??

The final variable, another behavior, is the denominator, borrowed from the Trusted Advisor’s equation.?

Self-orientation: are you focused on yourself and your own agenda and needs or are you considering both equally so you can create a win-win instead of a compromise?

A key variable to keep for when self-orientation is high, trust usually suffers a great deal. This is often apparent in sales, when the salesman is more concerned about his own commission and financial success rather than satisfying the customers’ needs. It can however be much more subtle and unconscious, when the behavior is driven by fear or self-doubt. In other words, if your behavior is driven by your own fears of not [ succeeding, feeling appreciated and important, meeting expectations, getting recognized or rewarded ], it will have a negative impact on the relationship and on your ability to come across as trustworthy.

If we take a quick look at the models that inspired this new formula you will notice that mine has them covered for the most part.

For instance, the trust equation from the Trusted Advisor had other variables such as credibility, reliability and intimacy, all of which defined above.

In the five dysfunctions of a team , Patrick Lencioni explains that team work is founded in vulnerability. And in the absence of trust a team cannot be vulnerable. As a result, they will fear conflict which will also result in a lack of commitment, decreased accountability and ultimately poorer results. ? Vulnerability is often associated with authenticity (which is captured through Congruence above). ? When leaders start to be vulnerable, they show their true self without fearing the consequences of doing so. They are human after all, and this authenticity sends a powerful message to their team, who we hope will model the behavior, given the right environment. Here is a great and true story about a VP of general counsel that opened up and shared a moment of vulnerability, and the impact it had on his team (shared by Jim Ferrell and reshared by Gil Broza (thank you for doing so!)

One cannot talk about vulnerability without thinking of Brené Brown , who has written extensively on the topic in the last decade.? She explored the anatomy of trust and came up with another easy way to remember it, with her acronym BRAVING, of which you will find the definition below, and which is well explained in her TED talk on the power of vulnerability. This article on how to apply the seven elements of trust to your business is also a good read.

Then comes Ken Blanchard , from math to alphabet, with his ABCD of trust. Here again we recognize similar elements, worded a little differently : reliability, integrity, respect, ability and caring. Add this short 1:21 minutes video where he talks about key behaviors and you have a great story for leaders too! Mr. Blanchard just released a new book called "Simple Truth of Leadership: 52 ways to be a servant leader and build trust " where he also stresses the importance of self-awareness.

And last but certainly not least, Stephen M. R. Covey introduced important concepts surrounding self trust, relationship trust, organizational trust and societal trust upon releasing his book, the Speed of Trust a few years ago. He recently released Trust & Inspire, building on those important concepts.?

In the Speed of Trust he suggests that trust is a function of 2 things, Character and Competence . These are composed of integrity, intent, capabilities and results, all of which form your personal credibility, the foundation of self trust.

He also proposes that when trust is low in an organization, it creates a trust tax, which will impact the results. ? The common business formula for results is that they are created by multiplying strategy (S) by execution (E). He rewrites it as (SxE)T=R to account for the counter effect of the trust tax, or dividend, when trust is high, which will have a compounding effect on the results.?

A last word on the behaviors of trust. Although I elude to only 3 in my formula, I really like Mr. Covey's list of 13 behaviors to build trust, listed here for your reference. Another important discussion topic for leaders.

So here you have it, a quick summary of the core concepts presented over the years on building trust and a new way to encapsulate them all as you onboard and grow new leaders in their important roles.

Thoughts and feedback are welcomed.? Do you like this new formula? Does it feel complete?

Until next time,

Karine