How can you tell if you can trust someone? What do you do to gain more trust? Can trust even be measured?
The word “trust” is a word that most people deem important to have; however, it’s also one of the most difficult to define. This trust, though, has been used to answer other questions like: Am I comfortable around this person? Does this person really care about me? Or even, what is this person really trying to say?
Charles H. Green of the Trusted Advisor Associates addresses the matter of trust through the Trust Equation — a model of trustworthiness that can help organizations evaluate and understand trust.
The Trust Equation is composed of four variables that make up what you call your Trust Quotient: Credibility, Reliability, Intimacy, and Self-Orientation. Learning how these four components work together can help you focus on what you can work on to increase your trustworthiness. Let’s explore each one briefly.
Credibility
This is about knowing about the subject at hand, and deals with what we say.
Reliability
This focuses on how much we are willing to depend on someone to do his tasks and take action.
Intimacy
More known as establishing psychological safety, and promoting a safe space for others when they’re around us.
Self-Orientation
Whether someone is more likely to focus on their own needs, or the needs of others. A high self-orientation leads to a lower sense of trustworthiness.
A “good” Trust Quotient is one that has high credibility, reliability, and intimacy. However, if those 3 are present but you have a high level of self-orientation, that pulls down your Trust Quotient, so companies must focus on helping customers and thinking beyond their own priorities as well.
How exciting it is to see that trust is something that can be measured and improved! With the Trust Equation, organizations and leaders are able to work on different factors like credibility, reliability, intimacy, and self-orientation to improve for the better.
This year, iLeap® has been officially given the license to conduct the official Trust Quotient assessments and workshops. If you’re interested to conduct this in your company, just send us a message!
References Used:
www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/mental-health-non-healthcare.html
www.apa.org/topics/healthy-workplaces/work-stress
www.managers.org.uk/knowledge-and-insights/article/how-to-manage-work-related-insecurity-and-anxiety/
techbeacon.com/enterprise-it/remote-work-burnout-10-ways-avoid-it-your-tech-team