Phil Lauterjung

Image: stockvault.net

Remember when you were a child and you learned to trust your Dad to throw you into the air…and then catch you?  You just knew that he would catch you – even though you were scared.  Or, maybe you have small children of your own now, and you play the same game with them.  But, at first the trust isn’t quite there is it?  The trust has to be earned, right?

One value that every business must also rely on is trust – whether it’s in your values statement or not.  According to the 2009 Edelman Trust Barometer, trust in U.S. corporations is at an all-time low of 38%.  That is obviously not a good thing for you and me.  In sales and marketing we rely extensively on an element of trust with our customers, and eventually with prospects we wish to have as customers.

That’s just great!, you’re thinking; the economy is in the tank and now you’re telling me most of my customers and prospects don’t trust me.  [Hey, I'm just here to try and help, Edelman did the study - calm down, there is something you can do about it]

The June issue of Harvard Business Review has a feature section on the subject of trust – hmmm, maybe a connection?  One of the articles, What’s Needed Next:  A Culture of Candor by James O’Toole and Warren Bennis contains some useful suggestions we can implement.

1. Tell the truth.  Avoid the impulse to tell people what you think they want to hear, but use straight talk.  In all directions.
2. Encourage people to speak truth to power.  Leaders need to create conditions for people to be courageous.
3. Reward contrarians.  Challenging assumptions is a key to innovation.  Promote the best contrarians, but thank them all.
4. Practice having unpleasant conversations.  Straight talk doesn’t have to hurt.  But it isn’t easy to deliver bad news kindly so that people don’t get unnecessarily hurt.  Practice helps.
5. Diversify your sources of information.  Understanding and overcoming one’s own biases requires having input from many perspectives.
6. Admit your mistakes.  If a leader admits mistakes, others will have permission to do the same.
7. Build organizations that support transparency.  This includes protecting whistleblowers, but also hiring people who have created cultures of transparency elsewhere.
8. Set information free.  Rather than defaulting to the private, default to sharing information unless there’s a clear reason not to.

Not all of you will be in positions of leadership to implement all of these suggestions; but, remember that leadership can often be defined as influence.  We all have some level of influence, even if it’s only within our own department.

I’d be interested in hearing what you have experienced in your companies.  Please post a comment below and share your thoughts and questions.

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