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A Matter of Trust

A Matter of Trust

Bernard Madoff scammed over 5,000 investors out of 65 billion dollars. Like any crime that you read or hear about, it’s concerning to each of us. My reaction deepened as I spoke with an old friend whose aging parents had invested their entire retirement savings with Madoff. I more deeply felt the real-life implications of broken trust as my friend’s parents must consider selling their house, change a lifestyle they had worked years to earn and feel the angst of an uncertain final chapter in their lives.

Trust is the basis for all successful leaders and all successful relationships for that matter. You cannot buy trust, but it is free. Trust is priceless yet can be earned over time. Have you ever tried to request someone’s trust? Maybe it was a team member, customer or a colleague. You may have wanted a decision to be made in your favor. To overcome some initial disagreement and expedite the decision making process, you might resort to “Hey, just trust me!” That statement is worthless. Either the other party already trusted you based on your past actions or they did not trust you and your request won’t change that. Trust is not spoken, it is demonstrated. Trust cannot be requested, it must be earned.

Trust is the wheel that makes relationships go ‘round. Losing trust is not just like getting a flat tire; it’s like losing the whole wheel! So, we need to earn and nurture our team’s trust every day – whether a team at home or work. A trusting team:

• Is more open to change
• Delivers better service
• Focuses on finding win-win solutions
• Has lower turnover
• Shares unfiltered information to help the team be successful
• Quickly forgives their leader if s/he makes a mistake.

Trust is also complex. There are complete books dedicated to trust that do not even address all of its facets. So, let’s boil it down to this simple Trust Test:

1. Do you serve your team’s bests interests?
(Not your own interests)

2. Do you communicate all the information they need to be successful?
(Don’t make assumptions about what you think “they can handle”. Leaders who nderestimate the intelligence of their teams generally overestimate their own.)

3. Do you keep your commitments?
(Leaders must watch their words because even a casual comment can be interpreted as a commitment)

Notice these simple questions are geared toward how trustworthy you are vs. how much you trust your team. No passing or failing here - we can all improve our trust building behaviors. Today’s winners are bold enough to be honest with themselves make necessary changes. Now more than ever, your team’s success may come down to a matter of trust.


I would love to learn from you! Please share your insights about trust. Like I did with favorite quotations, I will feedback your comments (with your permission, of course) in a future newsletter.

Until then, I trust you will make it a great week!





A Matter of Trust - To learn more about this author, visit Lee Colan's Website.

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Dianne Crampton

Dianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here.

Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009.  Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010.  To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here.

- Visit Dianne Crampton's Website


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About The Author


Lee Colan
(Visit Lee's Website) Lee J. Colan, Ph.D. is President of The L Group, Inc. (www.theLgroup.com). Lee is a leadership advisor, energizing speaker and author of 10 rapid-read books designed for an information-rich, time-poor world. His best seller is Sticking to It: The Art of Adherence. Register for Lee's popular and practical e-newsltter at www.theLgroup.com or call 972-250-9989.

Lee Colan is a Gold author on EvanCarmichael.com
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