Originally from our VitalSigns newsletter, this article reviews the importance of trust and provides a process for checking your level of trust.

EQ VitalSigns: Assessing Trust

One of the most important VitalSigns of a healthy climate is TRUST. When your people trust you, they dig deeper, listen better, and forgive more readily. When trust is low, there is more resistance, more fear, and communication doesn’t work as well (because people don’t believe each other, focus on CYA, and defend). One of the key elements of the Organizational Vital Signs (OVS) assessment, trust is the key to an engaged team.

Want more trust? The first step is to assess it, the second is to earn it, and the third is to request it. This issue of EQ VitalSigns focuses on step one: Assessing Trust.

Testing for Trust:

Trust is feeling and a belief, and it is reciprocal. If don’t trust you, I can pretty well guarantee you don’t trust me. Think of one of your direct reports, someone who does a good job, but who doesn’t fully “buy in” to your leadership and direction — doesn’t fully trust you. Now, honestly ask yourself: how fully do you trust her or him?

If you feel distrust, that’s a great signal to you — a warning — that the two-way trust connection is fragile or broken. Use your feeling of trust as a barometer to assess the quality of trust in your team.

Sometimes people are not sure if they trust or not. This simple process will let you check your trust level.

Imagine asking someone to do a task that is possible, challenging, and important — she says, “that’s a stretch, but I’ll do it.” Now, take a quick check:

• Body Scan — do you feel any new pain or tension in your stomach, neck, back? If so, you may not trust
• Quick Think – Right this second, what’s your first reaction? If you have questions or doubts, you might not trust.
• Heart Check — How do you feel? If scared, frustrated, sad, or anxious, you might not trust.

In the next issue, we’ll go onto increasing trust, first by practicing the Four Cs, then by having a challenging and wonderful conversation. In the meantime, increase your insight into your relationships by practicing the Body Scan, Quick Think, and Heart Check techniques. Tune into your own feelings of trust and distrust as a foundation for improving it.

Warmly,

Joshua Freedman is the COO of Six Seconds and the author of At the Heart of Leadership: How To Get Results With Emotional Intelligence, and co-author of the Six Seconds Emotional Intelligence Assessment (SEI).