Shawnee Love   •  
May 5, 2016

Common elements in any good relationship are trust and respect.  If you have them, you can overcome almost any obstacle. If you don’t have them, don’t waste your time working on anything else. The same principle applies in culture building. Great cultures are ones in which the people trust and respect each other.

Building trust and respect should be mission critical for every new leader and a consistent priority whenever you lead a team.

It all starts with personal credibility.  People who have personal credibility are generally recognized as competent individuals who are honest and forthright, and get the results they say they will.  Those people are easy to trust.  Are you “easy to trust”?

• Are you good at your job?
• Do you tell the truth?
• When speaking the truth, do you do it in a kind, helpful manner?
• Are you up front about your intentions?
• Do you tell people what you are going to do (e.g., commit to clear goals)?
• Do you do what you say you will (i.e., get the results you said you would)?

If you answered yes to those 6 questions, you are probably someone who is pretty trust-worthy, which is excellent because building a culture of trust requires leaders who can be trusted.

Once you have those leaders, it is up to them to model and encourage employees to do the following:

1. Hold people accountable for their actions, attitudes, and behaviours
2. Be respectful
3. Address conflicts and difficult situations in a timely and fair fashion
4. Correct errors and fix problems
5. Share information and news (good and bad) honestly and transparently
6. Consult and involve people in decisions that affect them
7. Have each other’s backs
8. Trust each other

If you want more on trust, consider some of our other blogs:

• Building Trust
• Never Over Promise and Under Deliver
• The Key to Trust
• Trustworthy Leaders and Managers

Also, two great books on building trust include:

• The Speed of Trust by Stephen M.R. Covey
• All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum

It really can be as simple as Mr. Fulghum makes it sound.