Issue 37 Autumn 2014

Building trust in business

BUILDING TRUST in business by Dr Richard Kwiatkowski , Senior Lecturer in Organisational Psychology

“ Don’t expect instant trust – people need to know you first. They need to trust you, not your job title. ”

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

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

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

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

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

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. 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

08 Management Focus

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