The Importance of Trust
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How to build trust in your business relationships, within your company, and within yourself.
Trust is one of the most important pillars or foundations in any relationship, including business relationships. Trust isn’t just one feeling or thought. It is the culmination of hundreds – even thousands – of actions, words, decisions, and intentions.
Business agreements, deals, negotiations, contracts – whether sealed with a handshake or a signature – are all built on trust and need trust in order to achieve lasting success. They require trust in yourself to do what you say you are going to do, and trust in the other person that they too will do what they say they are going to do and will come through for you.
Trust can be quick to appear and I think the more trust you have in yourself the quicker you are to trust others.
Trust also needs time to be nurtured and developed. From a personal perspective this is probably obvious – you grow these relationships over time based on encounters along the way. The level of trust between yourself and the other person is illustrated and cultivated through these encounters over time.
There is a belief or rationale that trust takes time. It doesn’t have to.
While some believe it may be ideal to allow trust to develop over time in professional relationships as well, there may be circumstances when it’s not necessary to build trust before doing business with a person or company.
In fact, building trust is part of the process. It’s almost like it’s seen backwards by most people. That trust has to be there first, before you can do business together. It’s just not always the case, in fact it can be the very perspective that is slowing down or even blocking your results.
Business and trust do go together in that the business relationship allows for trust to be built. It’s an opportunity to grow in trust; it’s part of the beauty of doing business.
The idea that trust has to be solidified first can lead to slow results, even no results. Sometimes it’s required to jump in and assume trustworthiness in order to accelerate a specific business exchange or relationship.
There is risk in that, of course, there is always a risk involved. Sometimes it takes risk to achieve the reward. This is what makes trust a complex concept and one that can vary in degree and certainty over time, and for different people.
This then, is built on your own self trust, that allows you to work with someone and build the trust between the two of you.
Self-trust. It is a new concept for most people as we are taught at a young age to put that trust in others, in those caring for us, in authority figures. Trust in others is needed immediately.
At a certain point though, this trust needs to be turned inward, for the individual to build it and use it for themselves.
The problem is that there is no rite of passage or ritual for turning that trust inward at adulthood!
That’s right, very few people are taught then to turn that trust inside, to their inner voice and to their own guidance system. So much so that you may go through life leaning on others for their opinions, for approval and even for making decisions.
As we grow, decisions are meant to come from within, otherwise you end up never really living your own life.
Photo by Giulia Bertelli on Unsplash
This is such an important topic that I devote time to it with my clients to build that trust, in themselves first. You see. Trust is needed in everything you do; in the way you approach your business and the revenue it provides.
The other thing to keep in mind about trust is that it can be broken in an instant. If your service isn’t up to par, you don’t keep your word, you are repeatedly late – all of these situations play a role in the level of trust that exists in your business relationships.
How do you create trusting relationships in business? Well, it’s pretty similar to how you create them in your personal life as well.
A trusting business connection starts with you.
Here are some thoughts on how to build trust in your professional relationships:
Always make sure that you are honest and respectful in your business interactions,
clearly communicate expectations,
stay true to your commitments, and
most importantly follow through, do what it is you say you are going to do!
Trust is also crucial within the company as well, trust that your employees will do their job, that your vendors will supply their goods on time and well. This also contributes to loyalty within an organization and well maintaining of your talent!
Trust between businesses and their employees, vendors, investors, and customers is what leads to long-term loyalty – a vital component of business success. It also contributes to the amount of fun and joy you may get from doing business with them.
Trust is one of the most important elements of life, of who you are, of self-development, and being successful! You need to be able to trust yourself; you need to be able to trust others; you need to be able to trust God or the Universe and that it's going to work for you in your favor. It's not what we're taught but it is possible to learn it, at any time.
Here you see the many facets of Trust, that most people are not taught and yet I’d venture to say that you experience this in your own life. It isn’t always easy to see for yourself and it definitely isn’t easy to build on your own. It takes practice and courage.