Do We Really Understand Trust?
by James Canada
Your ability to earn trust is a crucial indicator of your potential success. When trust is high, people and systems function well. Your team will be more creative, act more directly, operate at a higher level of consciousness, and discover new abilities within themselves.
Trust can be divided into four components: Capacity to Trust, Trust of Character, Disclosure, and Capability.
Understanding these components of trust will help you recognize the right path to take with your actions and communication. Knowing them may help you guide, teach, or share your thoughts with your partners and employees in a small organization. Your knowledge will impact your team and help you to do the right thing and establish a culture of trust in your small business.
Capacity to Trust: This involves our willingness to trust ourselves and others. There are four attributes of Capacity to Trust, which can be viewed as data points on four continua:
- Pragmatic to idealistic
- Concrete to abstract
- Complex to simple
- Differentiated to undifferentiated
When we are younger, we tend to be more idealistic, abstract, simple, and undifferentiated in our Capacity to Trust. However, as we mature, we tend to become more pragmatic, concrete, complex, and differentiated. Each person’s capacity to trust is continually changing and based on personal experiences.
Trust of Character: You trust a person to do the “right thing,” keep his or her word, and demonstrate integrity and good intentions.
Disclosure: You trust someone to tell you the truth, not withhold information, and admit to mistakes.
Capability: You believe a person is competent to perform as expected, and you respect his or her judgment.
Capacity to Trust, Trust of Character, Disclosure, and Capability are contractual and reciprocal. To be successful, you must trust to be trusted.
James H. Canada is managing partner/CEO for Alliance Technologies LLC, ITEN mentor and author of “Corporate to Entrepreneur: Strategies for Success.” Contact Jim at james.canada@alliancetechnologiesllc.com, 636-734-2337 or www.alliancetechnologiesllc.com.