The Need for Trust

When trust is present, there's a palpable buzz, a “can do” approach, and a belief that anything is possible. When people have confidence in one another's abilities, intentions, and commitment, they're more willing and able to participate, collaborate, and innovate. They are inspired. Trust may be intangible, yet the effects of its presence are concrete—both in people's lives and in the bottom-line results of an organization.

These results are crucial to surviving and thriving in a competitive, globalized marketplace. Every day, people are asked to work smarter, faster, and better. They're asked to do more with less, create new opportunities from epic failures, and engage in the steepest technological learning curve in the history of mankind. Trust plays a pivotal role in peoples' abilities to meet these expectations. In order to operate at their highest levels, people must trust one another and themselves.

You may not be used to thinking about trust as a primary driver of organizational culture and business success. But when you consider the everyday metrics that you use, you realize those “hard” numbers are all driven by the business conducted through human relationships. Business is built through relationships, and trust is the foundation of effective relationships. Trust is an aspect of the workplace that high performance cannot live without. When people trust one another, they open their hearts and minds to one another, forge productive partnerships, and collectively lower their shoulders to move mountains. Without trust, they withdraw, hoard their mental and physical resources, and search for the first available escape route.

Trust may be referred to as a “soft skill” by some, but we caution you not to underestimate its power—both when it's present and when it's absent. Building a trust-filled workplace is as vital to an organization's survival as piping in clean water. To stock a workplace with top-tier talent, attract powerful investments, and keep pace with an ever-changing business climate, we all must rely on thriving, trust-filled relationships. Without them, organizational spirits dehydrate and wither in the intense heat of a globalized marketplace.