Building Trust in Your Organization

“Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.” — Stephen R. Covey

Every organization is composed of a diverse group of people trying to accomplish a shared goal. Ideally, you want a mixture of people with different skill sets so you can have the most qualified people in the appropriate roles. There are functional positions that can naturally be at odds with each other. For example a salesperson will want to do anything possible to get the sale, while the financial person is making sure that the company is meeting its profit goals. These roles don’t have to be at odds with each other. They can be partners, working hand in hand to accomplish the same goals for the company.

It all starts with respect for each other’s roles, and trust that everyone is working together to achieve a target goal. The salesperson would not want to be working in the function of a financial role. A true salesperson would feel like a caged animal dying to get out there and hunt for food. Conversely the financial person would not want to be in the role of the salesperson, trying to convince a customer who has many choices in a buying decision, to choose what they are selling. When these different functions respect the role that each plays in the organization, and trust each other…