Building Trust And Credibility: Strategies For Effective Workplace Communication
World class organizations require a culture of trust. Of course, this is a spectrum. I mean, it isn’t like an either/or thing - like we have trust or we don’t. Or is it? Trust and credibility are hard to build and easy to lose. What are the disciplines that contribute to high trust environments? What must leaders do? In today’s episode, we explore these questions Eye of Power style.
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Building Trust And Credibility: Strategies For Effective Workplace Communication
On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you trust your boss if you have one? How about your direct reports if you have them? How about peers in your workplace? Would you describe the culture in your organization as high-trust? If your answers to any of these questions leave room for improvement, what could you do to move things in a more trusting direction?
In this episode, we will explore that question. I have a power style. To begin, let's take a closer look at the concepts behind the words. Credibility is how much credence we're willing to put into what a person tells us. It's a type of trust, but trust is a little bigger in the sense that it includes both what a person tells us as well as what we imagine they might say or do in the future, especially as it relates to our personal interests.
What perceptions and feelings are involved? What builds or erodes them? How much do they matter? Trust is a feeling based on our perceptions. It grows when we accrue evidence that supports a particular picture of the person. There are some universal features to this picture of trust. An important one is predictability. When the person consistently does what we would expect them to do, we grow more comfortable projecting that they will continue to do the same thing. We come to count on that feature of trust but trust and predictability are not the same thing.
A person may be predictable but untrustworthy. They may even be trustworthy but unpredictable. There's a correlation but not an equivalency. The trust we have for others is built from two components, character and competence. Character is related to a person's ethics and values. We trust when we perceive that the person has our interests at heart. Competence is a measure of a person's ability.
The trust we have for others is built on two components: character and competence. Character is related to a person's ethics and values. Competence is a measure of a person's ability.
They may be well-intentioned, but to be trustworthy in a particular way, they must also be able to deliver in the manner required in the situation. I'll share two examples. You may trust that I have your interests at heart, but that doesn't mean that you should trust me to perform surgery on you. That would be a bad deal for both of us. The character may be there. I want you to come out of it sound and healthy, but my competence to make that happen is sorely lacking.
Let's take a less dramatic example. You likely know at least one person who is chronically late. It may be for meetings or dinner plans, but you come to know that this person will not arrive at the appointed time. What effect does that have on your trust in them? You can say it goes up in the sense that you can trust them to be late, but would you describe it that way?
Chronic tardiness does not generally increase our trustworthiness. Why? It erodes our evaluation of character, competence, or both. The person may sometimes be late because they don't properly value your time. It's a show of disrespect. They may not mean it because they could have a real blind spot when it comes to planning. They habitually fail in their estimates of how long tasks take. They may not have the ability to tell people they have to go when that time has come. These point to competence.
When you perceive that a person consistently lacks the ability for promptness, how does that affect your evaluation of their competence and character? It typically doesn't go up. Trustworthiness grows as we prove both character and competence. What can leaders do to create conditions where this happens? That's a billion-dollar question. Here's what I've got for you as an answer.
First and foremost, like all positive character-related changes, it begins with a look in the mirror. To borrow biblical wisdom, we must resolve to remove the planks in our eyes before we concern ourselves with the specs in the eyes of others. This means we must marshal the two ingredients of all virtues, courage and honesty. We must resolve to see the ways in which we reduce our trustworthiness.
It's not a simple task, but it is among the most important ones we can do in life. It's also something that is nearly impossible to do alone because we can't see our blind spots. We must rely on allies for help. Someone who knows you and you consider trustworthy is a good place to begin. Professionals who are trained to help people do this kind of work are another powerful option. This is part of what we're creating in the Eye of Power community, a group of people who can help each other pass these kinds of obstacles in our development.
Working on ourselves is step one. It's a sound leadership strategy, leading by example, a willingness to go first, and displaying the strength of character it takes to be willing to be vulnerable. It's not the only step. We must exercise courage and honesty not only with ourselves but others. This means honest, constructive feedback. This is another tricky course.
When we provide feedback for our direct reports, we must do it in a way that encourages and motivates even if the person is underperforming or has made a sizable blunder. When we have constructive feedback from our boss or our peers, it won't do to bite our tongues, not if we want to build an environment of trust, but we must be diplomatic. If our honest feedback is not taken in a constructive way, we will erode trust rather than build it.
Effective Workplace Communication: When we provide feedback for our direct reports, we must do it in a way that encourages and motivates, even if the person is underperforming or has made a sizable blunder.
The path forward in all of these cases requires clarity. Our feedback must conform to the following four conditions. 1) It must be invited by the person. 2) It must be restricted to that which the person may positively affect. 3) It must be restricted to quantifiable metrics upon which there is agreement. 4) It must be delivered in the spirit of helping the person move forward.
Depending upon the circumstances, this can be a high bar to surmount. All I'll say to that is it's worth the effort because to do anything else reduces the foundation of trust in the culture. That's too high a price to pay. To reach mastery in these first two steps is an advanced skill. It requires careful thought, emotional intelligence, and highly developed communication skills.
These have ingredients of their own. The first of these is respect. We respect people by valuing them as the unique individuals they are. We look for ways to include, encourage, and build them. We're open. We listen to them not only for our sake but also for theirs. We get good at helping them place their personal goals in the context of shared goals.
For many on the team, their personal goals, along with the added ones of building trust in the ways we're describing, will remain aspirational, and that leads us to step three. Step three is to catch people in the act of building trust and reward them for their behaviors. Whenever we notice behaviors and words that reinforce trust, prove character and competence, and display courage and honesty, they must be reinforced. It must be treated as a big deal because it is.
No matter where you are, there's room for improvement, and your organization is counting on that.
We need to be careful to do this with everybody, not only the people who are sufficiently advanced that we see this evidence from them all the time. It can't be faked, either. That would move us away from trust and credibility. We must call it like we see it, but sometimes, we need to expand our field of view. Does all of this sound like a lot of work to you? Is it something that will be difficult to fit into your busy schedule?
I'll suggest that if you're thinking along these lines more than others, you can't afford not to work on these three steps. It's not like you've never done so. You may have just been sidetracked or plateaued after much development, but no matter where you are, there's room for improvement, and your organization is counting on that. Where there is trust and credibility, there is also high performance, accountability, satisfaction, and joy. It all starts with you. Let's go.