I read a book not too long ago called “The Speed of Trust” by Stephen Covey. It reminded me of the importance of trust and its’ affects in our daily life. The ability to effectively communicate and have a high trust factor is one of the key factors within an organization as trust acts like a ripple and essentially starts with all of us on an individual basis. The importance of trusting ourselves and knowing if others trust us is the beginning of our credibility. It is then followed by our relationships, expanding into our organizations, marketplace relationships and our global society. We really need it all the time; think of your relationships with your coworkers or clients…how well do people trust you? Should they trust you and do you follow through?

You can start by evaluating yourself around the four cores from Covey’s book: 

• Integrity: Do you “walk your talk?" Are you genuine and honest in your interactions? Are you clear on your values?
• Intents: How often do you discount what someone says because I am suspicious about that person’s intent?
• Capabilities: What is my attitude and approach improving my current capabilities and gaining new ones?
• Results: What kind of results am I currently producing? Do those results increase or diminish my personal credibility?

So why is trust so important? Is there really a cost associated with trust and economics within organizations or business? Absolutely, the outcomes affected by trust are speed and cost. The formula is simple: as trust decreases, speed also decreases and cost increases, however, as trust increases, so does speed and cost decreases. Successful organizations tend to have a higher trust factor at all times; clear communication from the top down.

You can see how trustworthy you are by taking a quick assessment on http://trustsuite.trustedadvisor.com/. This neat little tool will give you result along with your strengths and opportunities for improvements.

 We are all surrounded with relationships and the differentiating factor in business and amongst our competition is whether or not that connection will trust us or think of us concerning their needs or matters. Relationships are the core of business!

Tata for now...Virginie

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