Trust is a word that we are taught at a very young age. We are told not to lie, have integrity, follow through with your commitments, and a plethora of other ways to prove that we are trustworthy. In families we have debates, arguments, and all too often significant upheaval over the issue of trust. In companies we play politics, protect our backs, save emails for later events, and carefully plan who you can talk to and trust.
Companies send their employees to conferences and trainings through out the year. They go and absorb vast amounts of information, ideas to use, and stories of success and failure. These employees come back excited to discuss and implement their new ideas. When they move ahead, in the majority of cases, they get lack luster results and wonder what went wrong. The issue is trust.
Trust is one of those concepts that people tend to migrate to the ends of the spectrum when beginning a new relationship with an individual. They enter the relationship trusting or not trusting. Then with time and experience, they either solidify or shift their position on the trust spectrum.
I believe that working adults (other than maybe their first job) come into organizations not trusting the organization. Organizational trust is built upon individual trust coupled with consistency in that trust between individuals. This consistency is where organizational trust fails miserably and is impacted by who has power in the organization.
Come back for Part 2 on "Who Do you Trust?" in few days!
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