Trust – The Ultimate Test

Introduction

People trust those who consider their interests even in the face of potentially conflicting pressures – Robert Shaw

Trust is the underlying currency of practically every human interaction. It is the unseen but vital medium that makes it possible for us to collaborate with one another to achieve collective results – whether at home, at work, or in our communities.

Trust generally takes time and effort to accumulate, and if ever lost or betrayed, it can be painfully difficult to regain and trust is practically impossible to quantify or value. Despite its universal acknowledgement across cultural and national borders, it perhaps is one of the most challenging concepts to define.

Trust is the foundation of positive, productive relationships. When people trust one another, communication is frequent and often, conflict is confronted, and collaboration is boosted by sharing of resources and joint problem solving. In contrast, low-trust relationships tend to exhibit a host of counterproductive behaviours. These behaviours range from damage control to cover-ups to white lies, but the result is always the same: time and effort is spent on activities that don’t create value.

While trust plays a pivotal part in all arenas of life (work, home, and community), it is especially important in organisational relationships. Trust is the foundation of:

• Leadership, supervision, and management. Trust is what allows leaders to lead.
• Teamwork. The essence of teamwork resides in its interdependency.
• Relationships that span organisational boundaries. Hardly any employee can perform effectively these days without nurturing close, mutually beneficial relationships with people from other organisations.
• Enduring competitive advantage. An organisation composed of trusting relationships enjoys operating efficiencies because the time and effort needed to monitor and control are greatly reduced.

A lack of trust develops over time, and reversing the process takes time, too. This workshop, will help participants understand how their personal tendency to trust, as well as other factors, affect the decision to trust and how their behaviour clearly indicates the extent to which they trust or don’t trust.

Objective

Upon completion of this programme, the participants will be able to :

• Develop a deeper understanding of trust and its role in organisations
• Identify their general attitude towards trust
• Evaluate the level of trust in a particular work relationship
• Plan actions to improve trust in that relationship and others

Who Should Attend

This program is suitable for anyone with management responsibility.

Level: Generic. Delivery language adjusted to suit experience level of participants.

Methodology

This stimulating program will maximizes the understanding and learning through lecture, discussion, case studies and practical activities.

Module