The Trust Gap
by Linda Tarrant

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Trust is the glue that binds people together. It’s critical for developing health and productive relationships. That’s not to say that we trust everyone with whom we work or live. Not by a long shot. In fact, trust appears to be in short supply in today’s rapidly changing world. Here are a few factors that could be contributing to the trust gap:

• Massive layoffs – age and experience are the first to go
• De-layering – forget your chosen career path
• Mergers – fewer jobs than people
• Re-engineering – no training provided, no time to learn new skills, an unwillingness to change
• Changing organizational structures – departments and functional grouping have been abandoned for teams and matrix management

Trust is different from love. It seems worse to have had it and lost it, than never to have had it at all. That’s why it’s so devastating to find out that we can’t rely on those large, stable and never changing institutions of the past. We thought they would look after us. Instead, look what they’ve done. How can we ever trust again?

One barrier to re-building trust is that nobody wants to go first. Everyone is waiting – will you prove trustworthy or will you really mess up? Under that kind of pressure, people are bound to make mistakes. But, if you’re committed to doing your best and willing to forgive yourself and others when things go wrong, you can be successful. Here are some more tips on how to re-build trusting relationships:

• Communicate, communicate, communicate – listen to each other, be open, honest and timely with both good and bad news
• Give each other the benefit of the doubt – assume good intentions and be willing to listen to the other side of the story
• Look after each other – consider "their" best interest as well as your own
• Be reliable – establish clear expectations, then do what you say you’ll do or be willing to explain why
• Identify common goals – working and playing together are bonding experiences
• Don’t be mean about getting lean – never consciously cause hurt or harm
• Apologize when you’re wrong – it’s tough, but you’ll be loved for it!

Rebuilding trust won’t be easy, but the benefits are enormous. Trust is an essential element in building the kind of participative, team-oriented, open and innovative working environments that will lead to our future success. The effort will be worth it. Trust me!