Social psychologists found that when people were exposed to an unfamiliar face they made judgements about attractiveness, like-ability, trustworthiness, competence, and aggressiveness in about a matter of seconds. Yet we know establishing genuine trust in a relationship takes time. It is essential for leaders to forge trusting relationships with their: team colleagues; stakeholders; customers; and whomever they report to. Over the last few weeks the theme of building trust has emerged in my peer supervision conversations, the podcasts I have been listing to and the articles I have been reading and therefore I thought I would share some of these excellent resources with you. As always when reading the literature, please think about what best fits with your personality, workplace and professional circumstances.
How to Trust People You Don’t Like – Work-life Podcast with Adam Grant.
In this podcast Adam Grant speaks to Astronauts on the International Space Station who live in capsules together for months. As well as leaders in other workplaces and researchers who all share fresh insights about handling conflict and building trust. https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/worklife-with-adam-grant/id1346314086?mt=2&i=1000407661245 Cecily Cooper who studies trust in work setting believes it is based on the following: Character Competence
2. Asking questions to get to know people really quickly:
Here are some of the questions referred to in the podcast above. https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2011/08/is-there-a-shortcut-to-bonding-with-a-romanti/?utm_source=%22Barking+Up+The+Wrong+Tree%22+Weekly+Newsletter&utm_campaign=d594c75b13-close_4_8_2018&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_78d4c08a64-d594c75b13-58299685
3. Create Psychological Safety
According to Amy Edmondson you know you have trust in your team when you have psychological safety “a shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking.”
You can listen to her YouTube
Or read this article:
3. In 2012, Google embarked on an initiative — code-named Project Aristotle — to study hundreds of Google’s teams and figure out why some stumbled while others soared, the secret as you will find in this article was in psychological safety.
4. Four Strategies to Increase Trust across Your Organization: In this article/ Video Cecile Cooper Explains that Trust is a two-way street, because engendering trust as a leader means first trusting your team. She provides practical steps to build trust and maintain it.
5. Other ways to quickly deepen ties between people:
Chapter 11 of The Power of Moments, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath provides some excellent tips on how to quickly deepen ties between individuals.
Listen on Audible or read it, if you have time the whole book is fascinating.
Those of you who have worked with me know that the foundation of all my coaching is trust. However the context and aim of coaching, my professional ethics, and being external to the organisation are some of the variables that provide me wth unique foundation upon which to build this trust. As always please email me to discuss your executive coaching needs. ___________________________________________
Willis, J, & Todorov, A. (2006) First Impressions Making Up Your Mind After a 100-Ms Exposure to a Face,Psychological Science, 17,7 592-598