Five Innovative Ways To Improve Trust And Cooperation

First, a tale:

A baker and a farmer had an agreement, the baker got butter from the farmer and the farmer got bread from the baker. After a while the baker noticed that the pieces of butter from the farmer, that should weigh three pounds, became lighter and the scales agreed with him. He got angry and went to court to complain about the butter supplier. “The baker claims your pieces of butter do not have the required weight” said the judge to the farmer, “this piece of butter should weigh three pounds, but it weighs much less”

“That’s impossible” the farmer said, “I check the weight every time.” The judge then said: “Maybe your weights are incorrect.” The farmer replied in amazement. “My weights? I do not have any weights, I never use weights.” The judge replied: “So if you do not have weights, how do you check the weight of the butter?” The farmer said: “Quite simply, I get my bread from the baker and he gets butter from me. A loaf of bread weighs three pounds so I put my butter on the left scale and a bread on the right side.”

This is a silly story from an unknown author, but I think it shows the importance of trust in our everyday lives. Without trust there can be no progress, in business or in life. Lack of trust puts an immediate halt on any endeavor.

Trust is huge, trust is everything. In your business, in your work, in your family, and in your life. Without trust there is nothing. No progress, no productivity, no growth, and no moving forward. We cannot get anything important done in this world of ours without trusting, cooperating, getting along and working together with our fellow human beings.

I had experienced a violation of trust in one of my former military units. I was having a regular meeting with my leadership team, and in one of those meetings, it was explicitly expressed to keep the conversation just between those of us in the room. We were discussing the overall performance of other members of our team. One member of my leadership team expressed some points of poor performance towards a certain member in the section. After the meeting was over, it was clear that the trust of the meeting had been broken. And ever after, that trust was very difficult to restore.

What is the number one dysfunction of a team according to Patrick Lencioni, author of the bestselling book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team? ABSENCE OF TRUST. You must be able to trust the people you are working with and for. You have to be able to know that your partner has your back if stuff ever hits the fan so to speak. If you are experiencing a lack of trust in your organization, see below some tips and tricks to improve the trust and the cooperation between the members of your group. 

1. Be tactfully honest

This is a tough one for most people. Most people want to avoid any sort of uncomfortable conflict. But sometimes, it is necessary. Have the courage to speak up when you see something is not right. Be brave enough to give others constructive positive feedback when the time is right. How does this build trust? Others will see you as an upfront type of person, and you will gain respect, and that will encourage others as well to be open and honest. Building trust.

2. Admit when you’re wrong

This is another extremely hard thing for most people to do. Nobody wants to admit that they may have made the wrong decision or may have messed something up. But when you do this for yourself, it is very powerful and makes a huge impression on those around you. When you fully admit, and take full responsibility for your actions and choices, then others see that as trustworthy, and it will influence those around you to do the same.

3. Give your trust to others first

Put your trust in others right away. Within reason of course. If you take the step to put yourself out there first in a growing relationship, that will then grease the wheels for better success down the road. You must give trust, in order to receive trust back to you. There is no other way around it. It’s not easy, but it is necessary. This is like a trust bank account. You can invest your trust in others, and that trust will grow, and will return to you in dividends of an engaged team, and high performance.

4. Be transparent

Being transparent means being open and honest with others. Displaying a high degree of integrity. Being transparent builds trust because it allows business decisions to be made effectively at every level of the organization. What are the risks of not being transparent? This means that those around you in your team may not have all the information they need to make proper decisions. Which can negatively affect many things, including the morale of your team. So be willing to share as much information with those below you and above you in the organization. This will allow everyone, at every level, to be able to make the best business decisions that they can. 

5. Think long term relationships

Building trust is an investment in the long-term future growth of your team and organization. Trust builds over time, and the longer you focus on building trust, the healthier and more resilient will be your team. As your trust builds with others, you will find that others will come to you with challenges they may be facing, or opportunities for improvement. This is a good thing. When this happens, you will find that people will become more transparent with you and that will allow you to discover underlying problems that may crop up in the future. Being able to tackle problems early before they develop into bigger issues is immensely valuable.

In conclusion. If you are consistent in your communications, readily transparent with essential information, listen well to others, and speak the truth, your team or group will see much success in whatever projects and/or functions they are asked to perform. I cannot underscore the importance enough of putting trust building practices into effect. The success of your team literally depends on it.