What are practical ways to build more trust?

At home, as a manager or teacher or mentor, in your work a coach or counselor — or as a friend: What factors fuel and diminish trust?

Use the free interactive trust balance scale to explore your own experiences. Think of someone you trust very deeply: What are some ways they increased and decreased trust with you? Or think about your own interactions with another person. Scroll down for more emotional intelligence insights and tools about trust and coaching

 

Reduces Trust

    Try it!

    1. Drag an item from below into this box or the one to the right.
    2. Click the + to create your own items
    3. Click the pencil to edit any item

Increases Trust

      This is a variation on our famous Emotional Wellbeing Balance Scale. Click here for instructions. See more resources below.

      How do you use emotional intelligence to strengthen trust, especially in coaching?

      Trust has massive value in relationships — and neuroeconomist Paul Zak has worked to measure the economic value of trust. The Workplace Vitality research found trust to be the #1 predictor of team performance. Sometimes people forget that trust is an emotion — and therefore, the skills of emotional intelligence are invaluable in growing trust.

      How? Our classic article, The Four Cs of Trust, outlines these building blocks:

      • Commitment = Following through consistently
      • Caring = Showing the other person matters
      • Consistency = Reacting in a somewhat predictable way
      • Competence = Demonstrating ability to meet commitment

      They’re all important. Which is most elusive?

      In the Emotional Intelligence Coach Certification, we use a concept called “Unconditional Positive Regard.” Stanley Standal wrote about it psychology in 1954, and Carl Rogers was a fan. It means being fully committed to seeing the positive strengths and qualities in the other person, instead of making your approval conditional (here’s an intriguing article about what this might mean in schools). When someone sees you with this unconditional support, it builds a key aspect of trust.

      Read more about trust and emotional intelligence.