Trust (part 2)

Trust – Part 2

In the last blog I presented fourteen different pain points for trust. There may be more as we live in a world where the family, the workplace, and the community local and worldwide is challenged by the lack of trust. Ask yourself, and be honest with your answer, who or what do I unconditionally fully trust? It is a little harder to answer this than you thought, isn’t it? Why is there such a lack of unconditional trust in our society? Let us look at the first pain point.

Lack of Transparency

The lack of transparency can profoundly affect our ability to trust. When information is not shared openly between the leader and the team or the team and the leader, or when families hide of do not give a complete account of a situation; distrust can be an outcome. Now let us turn this around, when there is personal, potentially harmful information being shared about a person or team, when there is too much transparency, again distrust can be an outcome. Where is the line on transparency drawn…this is a difficult question.

Being part of a high performing team, community, or family requires discernment in transparency as it well know, the truth will always reveal itself. At some point our opaque discussions will become transparent. Transparent that we are not telling the truth. Transparent there is information missing. Transparent to the point our character and integrity is questioned.

Combining trust and transparency is double-edged where the leader, parent, or organization must evaluate the need, timing, and to who information is to be released to and then what instructions are necessary to create the trust of confidentiality. Trust can be supported with the honesty of letting people know that to maintain trust information will be released as it is confirmed to be true and is needed to be released while protecting individuals and organizations where confidentiality is essential.

As we continue our journey trust remember it is the essential ingredient for all levels of leadership, coaching, management, and everyday family life. Trust is the ingredient in making those dysfunctional organizations, teams, and families a little less dysfunctional.