In Organizational Change, and Life, Trust is Easy (really!)
Posted by Todd VanNest on Tue, Feb 08, 2011
Driving simplicity into the complex arena of organizational change is a major theme in this forum. I continue to be amazed, in a contemporary world where “engagement” and “emotional intelligence” are so popular, that many issues at the heart of change can be corrupted by a focus on process and complexity. In a recent discussion with some change leaders, we talked about the central role of trust. As the question about how to build trust was raised, it quickly got wrapped in a blanket of complexity—being described in process terms and being mapped in detail to the process or Organizational Change Management (OCM). There’s something misguided at best and tragic at worst in this treatment.
Let’s be real, people! If we have to wait to extend others trust after going through some process and only after they have established their worthiness by “doing what they say” (and other integrity/trust euphemisms), we’re in big trouble. If your team establishes trust and manages the change process in this way, you’re going nowhere fast.
Before “establishing a track record of doing what you say, for example, there is an investment, or better, an ‘exchange’ that puts the two parties in a circle together.” This investment is the LEADING INDICATOR of trust. We must understand that for humans beyond the infant stage, trust is driven by an "Exchange Principle." When mature, your trust in me grows (even before I've established behavioral integrity over days, weeks, or months) to the extent that I show openness, disclosure, responsiveness to your input/feedback, and candor. Consider that before I learn that I can trust my boss with my life, I begin to extend some trust because he is open to my input, admits to faults of his own, and "calls a spade a spade." As we grow through successive levels of maturity, we are able to act more and more in this way to build trust with others (i.e., being the "instigator" of trust) rather than the person in the duo who is waiting for the other to lead in this way, waiting for the exchange to be “fair.”
When I shared this insight about investment and the leading indicators of trust, a particularly bright and engaging colleague (thanks, Jonathan!), said, “I agree building trust is a leap of faith. When you are open and vulnerable with someone, they then begin to reciprocate. This is how the building of trust starts. You have to do a ‘toe test’...e.g. put your toe in the water to check the temp. Show them that it is OK, you have no hidden agendas, and you are authentic in who you are ‘being’, and that will let them know it is OK to trust you.”
Trust in leading change, then, is NOT about managing the OCM process or executing your Communications Plan to perfection.
So…what SHOULD I focus upon then in my efforts to lead change?
__Aggressively manage expectations among the change sponsor and all change team members that openness, candor, and honesty about what we know and don’t know are the only way we will operate;
__Conduct stakeholder debriefings after key meetings, distribution of planned communications, and resolution of issues and obstacles. Ask specifically if you and your team are communicating and acting in a manner that makes the stakeholder and h/her team feel comfortable extending trust;
__ Where you hear your sponsor and team members operating at “the toddler level” (i.e., making comments about a lack of trust or respect from others and dismissing it as resistance), call them on this immaturity and insist that they respond to these two questions:
*What are we doing in response to that in order to make them feel more comfortable extending the trust we demand?; and
*How would our project and operating environment look different if we took responsibility for creating an environment wherein respect and trust was more likely to come our way?
Coach your team to a higher level of trust-building by promoting the concept of investment, dipping in our toes, leading with openness, candor, and self-effacing honesty wherever possible to help the team realize how they might work differently in response to these gaps…
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