Creating Trust

I've been trying to get my arms around this idea of how to build trust across the institute, especially when most of us work long distances from each other.  I came across a book recently called "Working from a Distance: Being your best when you're not with the rest" by Debra Dinnocenzo. I thought it would help me, as a leader, get some good ideas. The main focus of the book is from the employee point of view. However, the section on trust is very thought provoking for all of us.

Debra says, "the key to successful relationships in any environment is TRUST. When working remotely..the potential for trust to erode is magnified exponentially. Factors such as physical separation, the challenges of communication methods and time variables make 'being on the same page' that much more difficult." I think she's identified our challenge at IPS!

Debra goes on to say that trust is formed as people get to know each other, realize they can count on each other, and have confidence in each other. She identifies three components that are essential to trust:

Familiarity          Reliability          Integrity

 

Familiarity - knowing people allows you to feel comfortable with them, relate to them on a more personal level, appreciate their unique skills and abilities, and have empathy for them - all of which are important aspects of working well together.

 

Reliability - demonstrating reliability is what allows colleagues to know they can count on you without needing to endlessly follow up, verify, double-check, or wonder if you'll deliver as expected.

 

Integrity - absolutely vital to the existence of trust, integrity impacts the way people are perceived relative to honesty, truthfulness, and respect for the rights of others.

Debra concludes that with a strong foundation of trust, building good relationships becomes the cornerstone of successful virtual teams and effective distance interactions. And it is important to maintain a commitment to continuing dialog to help stay connected, informed and "present"... from a distance.

Thanks to the timeliness of this book, we now have a few more ideas of how we can go about building more trust and stronger relationships among our staff and leadership team.