Building trust

- In my seminars about building trust in organizations,…we brainstorm lists of what people do to reduce our trust…and actions that increase trust.…Whichever we do first, the reduced trust list…is usually much longer.…Joking I ask, "How many of us try to be untrustworthy?…"Raise your hands."…No one does.…I say, "What a relief.…"All the people who need to build trust…"are somewhere else," and we laugh.…We've all been stung by people being untrustworthy to us.…Less apparent but just as important…is earning the trust of others.…

Good intentions aren't enough to gain trust.…We all need to work on it.…Everything's harder without trust.…Our intent gets distorted by others concerns…about our real motives or hidden agendas.…Worse, they probably won't tell you they're skeptical.…They'll smile or nod in apparent agreement.…If they trusted you more, they might be more open…but that's the challenge, isn't it?…Even with good intentions, we can get stuck…in this lack of trust loop.…How can you break out and build trust…across a wide range of people?…