The Speed of Trust - Page 2
To increase your integrity: 1. Get into the habit of making and then keeping personal commitments to yourself – which in practical terms means you probably should make less commitments, not more. Don’t make commitments impulsively but treat each as an important undertaking. 2. Stand for something bigger than yourself – perhaps by creating a personal mission statement which articulates what you want to be known for. Then show by your actions you want to stand for the right things. 3. Be candid and open – never be afraid of looking at new and different ways to get the right things done. Have the humility and courage to admit you don’t know everything and learn from others. This creates the kind of trust which underpins your personal integrity. “I look for three things in hiring people. The first is personal integrity, the second is intelligence, and the third is a high energy level. But, if you don’t have the first, the other two will kill you.” – Warren Buffett, CEO, Berkshire Hathaway
The Five Waves of Trust
Credibility
Self trust
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Self trust is derived from your abilities and your capacity to set and achieve goals and keep commitments. If you walk your talk, then you’ll feel good about your actions. That inner-sense of contentment and consistency then makes it possible for you to be worthy of the trust of others. Credibility is derived from four core sources, each of which you should seek to build:
1 Integrity – Do you do what you say?
Credibility
2 Intent – Do you have a hidden agenda?
3 Capabilities – Are you relevant?
4 Results – What’s your track record?
Before it becomes possible to build trust with others, you first have to trust yourself. This is an “inside-out” approach. To have credibility with others in society, you first need to have an internal foundation you feel good about. Credibility essentially boils down to two questions people everyone needs to be able to answer: • Do I trust myself? • Am I someone others can trust implicitly?
4Cores
2 Intent – Do you have a hidden agenda?
Intent is vital to your credibility. Even if you have integrity, capability and results, if your intent is poor people will question your motives seriously. The key components of intent are: Motives – your reason for doing one thing and not another. The motive which will inspire the greatest amount of trust is when you genuinely care about the well being of others. Your agenda – what you intend to achieve. The agenda which inspires the greatest amount of trust is generally seeking for mutual benefit and win-win outcomes. Behavior – whether your actions show you don’t care. The noteworthy behavior which always inspires trust is acting in the best interests of others. When you do that, you show definitively what your motives and agenda are. Keeping in mind the fact intent is something you just can’t fake, there are a few things you can do to improve your intent: 1. Always pause and examine your motives – and if necessary refine and improve them. Most rational people want to act with good intentions and make good things happen so pause regularly and check what you’re doing actually aligns with those good intentions. 2. Declare your intent out loud – so others cannot misconstrue what you’re attempting to do. Vocalize your goal so people know what to look for. Just make certain you’re honest in doing this, because people can spot fakes a mile away. 3. Always choose abundance over scarcity – meaning there is enough for everyone so don’t begrudge others their fair share. If you go out of your way to see that others do well from their dealings with you, your personal credibility will soar. “I think every good company has got to have a partnership relationship, really, with their employees. You have got to work in their best interest and eventually it will come back to the company.” – Sam Walton, founder, Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club “The measure of your life will not be in what you accumulate, but in what you give away.” – Dr. Wayne Dyer, author, The Power of Intention
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Credibility
Enhancing and building your personal credibility is something you can do proactively rather than being forced to work with what currently exists. You can choose to enhance credibility through the decisions you make and the actions you take. Equally, personal credibility becomes diluted and dissipates when you make decisions you don’t feel good about at a personal level. There are four foundation elements or cores that will make you credible or believable, both to yourself and others:
1 Integrity – Do you do what you say?
4Cores
Most people equate “honesty” with “integrity”, but it actually includes much more. To have integrity means to act in accordance with your personal values and belief system at all times and in all circumstances. Integrity is like the roots of a tree in that it lies under the surface and yet it is absolutely vital to the nourishment and stability of the entire tree. Integrity certainly involves telling the truth but it also includes: Congruence – acting in ways which harmonize completely with your personal beliefs and values. People with congruence are the same inside and out, in private and in public. Humility – being more concerned about what is right than being right, about acting on good ideas rather than defending a position, about recognizing contribution instead of worrying about being recognized. Courage – the intestinal fortitude to do the right thing, even when it’s hard and may have some kind of personal cost involved in one way or another.
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