Building trust in business
BUILDING TRUST
in business
“Don’t expect instant trust – people need
to know you first. They need to trust you,
not your job title.”
by Dr Richard Kwiatkowski, Senior Lecturer in
Organisational Psychology
D
o you trust me? You’re
reading this article - but
why? Perhaps you are
relying on the brand;
maybe you’re an alumni of Cranfield
and have fond memories. But are
you right to trust me?
What I’m illustrating here are the two
components of trust; the cognitive
and the emotional. Broadly we trust
people who we think are competent
and then we make a decision about
how we feel about them. “Can they
do it and are they nice?”
Gaining trust
As a manager or leader it is essential
that you are able to utilise both of
these components of trust. If people
feel an emotional link with you; if they
believe that you care about them, that
you are concerned that they will do
well in your business - it’s likely that
their discretionary effort is going to
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Management Focus
be greater; of course their judgement
is founded on the question “are you
competent?”
Who do we trust?
We tend to trust people like us.
The good news is that this sort of
prejudice declines with increasing
openness and international
experience. But it is still the case that
attractive people are seen as more
trustworthy than the unattractive.
Thinking is hard so we tend to
generalise; the Mori polls reveal that
people distrust politicians, but think
their local Member of Parliament is
actually a good person and works
hard. How is this possible?
My experience of researching
parliament for over 15 years leads
me to say that most politicians tell
me the truth. I trust what they say.
But equally they don’t tell the whole
truth straightaway, they have to get
to trust me. It normally takes three
or four interviews before they are
sufficiently confident that they can
reveal themselves. So in a new role,
don’t expect instant trust – people
need to know you first. They need to
trust you, not your job title.
What is trust?
To trust somebody means to be
confident that when you make
yourself vulnerable to them they
will not damage you. This applies
in personal relationships as well
as professional ones. If you reveal
personal information to a colleague
reciprocity suggests they may then
reveal something about themselves.
Now you have both made yourselves
vulnerable to each other.
It may come as a surprise to hear
that people across different political
parties do trust each other outside the
public pantomime of the Chamber.
Every politician I have spoken to has
friends and confidants in other parties.
It is sometimes easier to have a frank
discussion with someone outside your
own political party as you are both
vulnerable; you must have trust. Ask
yourself - who do you have those
conversations with?
Building trust
Trust, particularly in leadership, is
linked to notions of fairness and
equity in social exchange. There is
an implicit psychological contract
present - leaders and followers are in
a social relationship where both sides
benefit. If this contract is broken the
relationship is damaged.
It is perception that is critical
here. If as a follower you perceive
that unreasonable effort is being
demanded, or that the boss does
not stand up for your department, or
does not provide sufficient direction,
or that their rewards are too big,
then problems arise. Equity is about
perceived fairness and acting unfairly
is a breach of trust. For politicians
perception is all - a cabinet minister
regretfully told me ‘it’s not what you
do that matters, it’s what people
think you do’. The same is true in any
organisation.
Losing and regaining trust
As the Dutch saying goes ‘Vertrouwen
komt te voet en vertrekt te paard’
roughly translated ‘trust arrives on
foot but departs on horseback’.
However rebuilding trust always takes
time, as politicians, bankers, CEOs of
energy companies and others have all
found.
know it was a budget meeting) or
those who make excuses (it fell into
my pocket, officer) to minimise their
involvement in the situation (it wasn’t
my fault), or unreasonably shift the
focus of control to external events
(how could I have known they wanted
to stick to the contract) will have
significant difficulty in regaining trust.
Demonstrating understanding, clarity
and openness about what has gone
wrong, an expression of genuine
regret, and a description (followed
by action) of what is going to happen
to redress the breach of trust are
all essential. Building trust doesn’t
happen overnight but there are
important steps leaders can take to
foster a more trusting climate. MF
Linking back to the cognitive and
emotional aspects of trust, people
who claim that they acted due to
incompetence or lack of skill (I didn’t
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