Beyond The Call: Why Some of Your Team Go the Extra Mile and Others Don't Show

8.

THE IMPORTANCE OF TRUST

‘Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly, and they will show themselves great.’

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Learning about trust is an essential part of growing up. We learn who to trust and who not to trust – “don’t trust strangers” we are told as young children, for example. We discover when to trust and when not to trust. Every time we sit behind a steering wheel, we are about to take on trust, the competence of hundreds, if not thousands, of other road users and pedestrians. We find out what it takes to undermine trust, and what it feels like to have our trust broken.

For some people, trust is not just a ‘nice to have’, but a critical component of their activities. I know many mountaineers and rock climbers, for example, and have also climbed myself. For these people trust is an essential part of what they do – trust in themselves, trust in their equipment and trust in their climbing partners.

Society could not function without trust, and business is the same. For centuries, people have sealed business deals on nothing more than a handshake and trust. Take my business. As a speaker I focus much of my energy in developing a trusting relationship with my clients. That means I must deliver on a number of different levels.

At a basic level I’ll turn up on time, or if not I’ll be early. It’s quite incredible how often speakers turn up with minutes to spare or are late. Quite understandably this puts the conference organizers into a spin as they ...