In last month’s newsletter, we explored how to harness the 5 Superpowers of a United Team©, calling out Trust as the basis of all high performing teams. That’s logical given that we need a good level of trust to feel safe to be ourselves, to be allowed to make honest mistakes and to feel comfortable speaking up in tricky situations. Without trust, people generally keep their thoughts to themselves and keep their heads down so that they remain psychologically safe.
So how do you intentionally build trust within teams? We thought it would be useful to share a fantastic model which can improve trust within teams, with key clients, stakeholders, between siloed departments and anywhere else where trust has been broken, has yet to be established or where there’s a negative perception that is blocking the flow of positivity and proactive communication.
Exploring the Trust Equation by Charles Green
We like to measure everything, but trust has been a tough one to wrangle given its rather abstract nature. That’s why we were so excited to discover Charles Green’s Trust Equation.
A mathematical equation to measure the present level of trust in any relationship:
In this equation, Credibility, Reliability and Intimacy are all scored out of 10, 10 being highest. Therefore, the highest score possible on the top line is 30. In contrast, Self-orientation is scored in reverse out of 10 – thus, a low score such as a 1, 2 or 3 suggests low self-interest. Therefore, a high score on the bottom line can severely diminish a good top line score.
Let’s look at each element in more detail…
Credibility
“For every credibility gap there is a gullibility gap.”
Richard Cobden
In simple terms, this is how much you believe that someone knows what they’re talking about, that they are an expert in their chosen field and that the advice they offer is accurate and up to date. For example, if you were to go into a computer store to buy a new laptop, you’d be likely to trust the credibility of the salesperson who has in-depth knowledge of the specifications of different laptops and can translate that knowledge into layman’s terms to help you compare their features.
Questions to ponder:
• Think of someone you trust and rate their credibility out of 10 (10 being high)?
• What have they done or said to influence the rating you’ve given them?
Reliability
“Your life will be no better than the plans you make and the action you take. You are the architect and builder of your own life, fortune, destiny.”
Alfred A. Montapert
It’s not surprising that following through on your promises has a positive impact on people’s trust in you. Conversely, not doing what you said you would or when you said you would, has a hugely detrimental effect on relationships and people’s perception of your integrity level.
But it’s not just about keeping your word, it’s about being consistent in your messaging and remaining congruent with what you’ve said before. It’s jarring when we do the opposite to what we teach or display a behaviour which is in opposition to a personal value that we’ve previously expressed.
To display reliability, we need to remain accountable, show consistency and offer others “a safe pair of hands”.
Continuing the computer store analogy, the salesperson would come across as reliable if they followed through on the discount they offered, organised your finance the way they promised, and called you back exactly when they said they would.
Questions to ponder:
• Think of someone you trust (the same person as earlier) and rate their reliability out of 10 (10 being high)?
• What have they done or said to influence the rating you’ve given them?
Intimacy
“If one does not understand a person, one tends to regard him as a fool.”
Carl Jung
Intimacy might be a strange word to use in a work setting, but what this is rating is simply how much someone understands your model of the world, what your challenges are, what you hope for and what drives you to succeed.
Intimacy is a mixture of knowledge about a person’s situation and the empathy to truly understand them.
As a laptop salesperson, intimacy would be knowing that I get the bus into the city, so I don’t want anything too heavy, that I store my files in the cloud, so memory isn’t too much of an issue, that my eyesight is going, so I need a big enough screen to read my emails easily when I’m out and about. Oh, and that my favourite colour is purple, so they set up the default colour scheme for me as a nice surprise.
Questions to ponder:
• Think of the same person as earlier and rate their level of intimacy with you out of 10 (10 being high)?
• What have they done or said to influence the rating you’ve given them?
Self-Orientation
“You can start right where you stand and apply the habit of going the extra mile by rendering more service and better service than you are now being paid for.”
Napoleon Hill
As the sole denominator in this maths equation, this one score can have a dramatic effect on the Trust Equation score as It’s scored in reverse; 10 being a low score and can turn an otherwise fair trust score into an extremely poor score.
Self-orientation is another way of saying self-interest. Self-orientation is a primary focus on personal desires and goals, rather than considering the needs or perspectives of others.
Now some level of self-interest is natural. As a laptop salesperson who is on commission, it’s understandable that they would want to make the sale themselves rather than refer you to the shop down the road with a 20% off sale. They would probably score about a 5 out of 10 in their level of self-interest versus being completely of service to you. They have a job to do.
Questions to ponder:
• Think of the same person as earlier and rate their level of self-orientation (selfinterest) out of 10 (10 being a low score and 1 being the best)?
• Now do the maths – Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy / Self-orientation. What is that score out of a possible 30?
How to Use this Model with Teams
Wherever there is a known and acknowledged lack of trust between individuals or departments, we’ve had great success in asking the two parties to use the Trust Equation twice to score the levels of trust from two perspectives:
1) Their experience of the other party
2) How they imagine the other party might score them
This self-reflection can be challenging for some, but the insights are often pure gold. People start to realise that they don’t really know much about what makes the other person tick and that they need to ask more questions or simply spend more quality time with them. Sometimes they realise that the language they’ve been using is centred around their own needs rather than what’s important to the organisation as a whole and thereby have given an impression of extreme self-interest rather than working together for a higher purpose.
A group coaching session focused on opportunities to fill either existing or perceived gaps can change everything for the better.
And while we don’t spell it out as such, our Team Building with Purpose sessions are built on important models such as the Trust Equation. Our events help to build trust in teams in two main ways:
1) They build intimacy between team members by encouraging them to share more personal, sometimes vulnerable stories in relation to the cause they’re helping support. This allows them to see each other as fellow human beings rather than colleagues.
2) Plus, they are working together for a higher purpose, which takes the emphasis away from roles, departments or hierarchy and puts everyone on a level playing field while they’re being of service to others. This diminishes the ‘Self-orientation’ in the room and creates an opportunity to focus outwards on making the world a better place.
We hope you love Charles Green’s Trust Equation as much as we do. Let us know if you’d like us to help implement it within your organisation.
If you’d like to chat to us about your team dynamics and how we can help, please reach
out on 1300 880 487 or at info@teambuildingwithpurpose.com.au