Building an Economy of Trust, one Hotdog at a time

22 Aug Building an Economy of Trust, one Hotdog at a time

Trust enables speed in the execution of process and enhances organisational efficiency by avoiding the “tax” of distrust.  However to build trust we need to look within, developing trust in ourselves.

In our Breakfast Seminar Creating Connected Communities: in our everchanging work environments, Nadia Taylor, Director & Head of Strategy & Business Services at Livingstones, a national firm consulting in Organisational Psychology and Industrial Relations, quoted Francis Fukuyama;

“Widespread distrust in a society imposes a kind of tax on all forms of economic activity – a tax that high trust societies do not have to pay”

When we distrust the process or the people we are less productive, due to the time we take to conduct our own evaluation of the proposed idea’s, concepts or instructions, whether this be in society, government or our organisations.

Nadia relayed the story of a New York Hot Dog stand vendor who was losing customers due to the length of his queue, a result of the process around making the hot dogs, receiving money and providing change.  He decided to provide his customers with a bowl full of money, from which they could pay him and collect their own change.  The result; he made more money.  Both from the faster process of serving his customers and more of them, but also as his customers tipped him more.

In Speed of Trust, Stephen Covey, outlines how when we can communicate better we have increased economic value.  The higher the level of trust the lower the “costs” of time, energy and effort, being put into conducting our own “due diligence” around the idea/concept/instruction.   There is a ripple effect that occurs from the inside out.  When we have trust and confidence in oneself, the person that we are coaching or leading, has more trust.  Leaders inspire trust and this is the differentiating factor between being a leader and a manager.

Speed of Trust, outlines the 5 waves of trust;

Culture within organisations is built on a framework of the vision and values being delivered efficiently due to organisational trust.  Through the waves of trust when we develop our own leadership skills we develop trust in ourselves.  We can then develop trust amongst our teams building relationship trust, and when we can trust in each other we are able to collaborate more effectively.

Teams go through a process of Forming, Storming, Norming, and by building trust we are able to speed up this process, enabling teams to perform better & faster.

Livingstones employee a Leadership Framework that measures Results as “Extra Effort, Effectiveness and Satisfaction”, with the base line of this framework relying on the establishment of trust, both Internal; personal, and External; environmental.

For us to first establish our Internal Trust, we need to develop Self Awareness, have clarity of our own values and be committed to self development.

By establishing a high level of self awareness we are increasing our ability as a leader to build trust.  Through the mouse trap exercise leaders are able to reflect and identify their own management style; hands on, not great at coaching etc.

Understanding our own personal values ensures we are clear on the things that we are passionate about.  The things that press that red button if people do something that is against what we believe in.  Organisations need to be clear on their values, so that they can bring people into the team who align with these values.  It is important that these values are embedded and used everyday through discussions and feedback, reinforcing alignment.

We enable our leaders by developing their skills in building trust, through self awareness, understanding their personal values and how they fit with the values of the business and demonstrating a commitment to self development to build trust within the team. Providing tools to understand and learn about each other, will develop self awareness amongst the team and each other.

To start creating connected communities within your organisation, follow these three principles;

• DEFINE your organisational values and engage your people through them
• ENABLE the leaders in your organisation by developing their skills for building trust within their teams
• BUILD teams rapidly by creating self awareness and understanding of each other

Creating Connected Communities, in our ever changing Work Environments, was a breakfast seminar bringing together expertise from Organisation Psychology, Personal Leadership, Health & Wellness and Environment Design.  The combination of these varied perspectives provided a unique overview of how we can continue to connect with our peers and our organisations in a world where technology has enabled us to never need to be physically present in our workplaces.