Trust impacts almost any initiative, whether that is relatively small local efforts or big organizational changes. In low-trust environments, everythings seems to require more effort. And the “resistance” is going to feel much stronger. This topic of trust shows up in many ways - psychological safety and emotional intelligence are coming to mind as I think about it this morning.
Jamie Flinchbaugh has been thinking about the topic, and doing some of his own research recently. He’s come up with The 4Cs of Trust with a survey and some following posts about it. He also participated in a recent Gemba Academy podcast on the topic as well.
The 4Cs of Trust per Jamie Flinchbaugh are
Demonstration of Care - I really liked the emphasis on demonstration, not just the care. Care is the result of the actions that people take (the demonstration).
Communication of why - When the context is clear, people can understand better what is being asked of them.
Competence - The leader and the team are competent to execute what we are asking of them. There is a whole ‘nother conversation around here about capability and competence - even if we aren’t ready (capable) yet, a big part of this Trust element is the belief that we have a plan to build the capability and competence to do the work.
Consistency - Do you do what you say you are going to do? Even when you make mistakes or fall short, is there a consistency in the way that you handle it? And I love the connection to consistency creating stability - or that low consistency increases the amount of variability in the system, creating more noise that we believe we have to respond to.