The Secret to Phenomenal Success: Why Creating Trust is the Ultimate Soft Skill You Need

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Here are the best excerpts about creating a culture of trust at home and work. How and when does Servant Leadership work best?

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Emotional Bank Account

In the book on Principle-Centered Leadership, Stephen R. Covey identifies his use of the concept of trust:

“Trustworthiness is based on character, what you are as a person, and competence, what you can do…. Trustworthiness is the foundation of trust. Trust at the interpersonal level is the emotional bank account between two people that enables them to have a win-win performance agreement. Trust – or the lack of it – is at the root of success or failure in relationships and in the bottom-line results.

Ask yourself:

1. What is your definition of trustworthiness?
2. How do you think the emotional bank account works within relationships? Is it an important concept for the workplace?
3. Talk about a time where you’ve seen failed outcomes that have resulted from a lack of trust.

Trust, the Miracle Ingredient

In the book on Building Trust in the Workplace, Gordon Shea describes trust and claims this powerful benefit:

“Trust is the ultimate intangible. It has no shape or substance, yet it empowers our actions. And its presence or absence can govern our behavior as if it were a tangible force Trust is the ‘miracle ingredient’ in organizational life – a lubricant that reduces friction, a bonding agent that glues together disparate parts, a catalyst that facilitates action. No substitute, neither threat nor promise, will do the job as well.”

Ask yourself:

1. Read the above quote. What do you think about the claim that ‘trust is the ultimate intangible.’?
2. How important is workplace trust to you?

Fostering Trust

In the book The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations, authors James Kouzes and Barry Posner indicate that their research supports the claim that fostering trust is expected of credible leaders:

“Being seen as someone who can be trusted, who has high integrity, and who is honest and truthful is essential. So the credibility check can reliably be simplified to just one question: ‘Do I trust this person? Credibility, like reputation, is something that is earned over time. It does not come automatically with the job or the title. The credibility [trust] foundation is built brick by brick.”

Ask yourself:

1. Why do you think it’s essential that a leader is seen as trusted and one with high integrity’?
2. What’s the workplace and/or team environment like when you don’t trust the leader?
3. What are some steps a leader can take to rebuild trust brick by brick’?

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