A Word or Two on Trust
Trust is an essential component of the culture in any values-based organisation.
So what is trust?
Trust is built through making commitments that are both objectively understood, reasonable
in the light of experience, and grounded in personal values.
"In the office, we tend to forget that each commitment we make is a
personal promise to a colleague. Commitments require self-awareness and personal
responsibility. This means we focus on both sides of the commitment: First we
don't coerce others into commitments they find unrealistic; and, second, we
don't say 'yes' and mean 'maybe' or 'no'.
"Probably one of the most important - and most difficult - changes for many
will be the ability and commitment to say 'no' when that is what they mean. In
many companies today, 'yes' means all manner of things. If people can and do say
'no' in the the appropriate circumstances, when they do agree, this agreement
initiates a dependable cycle. [Then deeply] committed teams can count on the
intention of constituent members when making agreements." [Kelly &
Allison 1999, p. 72]
"We urge everyone to take a look in the mirror: to evaluate personal
attitudes toward, habits surrounding, and regard for commitments. As with
changing any habit, the first step is to notice what you actually do."
[Kelly & Allison 1999, p. 74]
In this context, performance and capability are key concepts through which trust
can be understood.
'Performance' is the history of actual results achieved by an individual or
group following a committed course of action. After the individual, or group,
have committed to a course of action, what were the measured results? How did
they actually perform?
'Capability' is a predictor of expected outcomes for a person or group - i.e.
knowing one's capabilities, based on past performance in similar situations, one
will naturally make an assessment of the likely outcomes. Only when people
measure their performance can they understand their capability . Understanding
our capability is a key ingredient in making improvements to it.
The bottom line is, that in an environment created by an organisational culture
based on trust, synergy and collaborative energy are high.
[Reference: Kelly, S. & Allison, M. 1999, "The Complexity Advantage:
How the science of complexity can help your business achieve peak
performance", McGraw Hill, new York.]
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