Q: What can take months, even years, to achieve, less than a minute to lose, can hit like a bulldozer when you don't have it and is worth more than gold when you do have it? 

A: Trust.

Photo by covilha.

I keep hearing stories about trust in business–how important it is to establish, how devastating it is when it's not there, how hard it is to give.  A few examples:

• When you work with someone you can't trust, it can suck the life out of you. A friend, "Mary", was brought into a company as part of a turnaround. Six months into the job, she could tell things were off track.  Promises for financial incentives were shelved.  Mary was asked to do things that didn't feel ethical.  She eventually left the company, drained to the core, and relieved to cut her ties.  Soon after, Mary was offered a job leading another start-up. She negotiated several months off to recover before starting her new job.  If she had to do it over, Mary would have left the old company sooner.  Her parting remark: "I couldn't trust the people I worked with."

• Establishing trust can be a long, painful process. Another friend, "John", received an email from a colleague, who complained about John's staff and their lack of communication.   John had many reactions, including this one: "This person doesn't trust me or my staff."  He felt offended, given he had recently redoubled his efforts to partner with this colleague and keep her in the loop.  John was frustrated that over months of working together, trust had not been established with his colleague. 

• Undermining trust can happen quickly. Recently, I was surprised to hear about Zynga's CEO, Mark Pincus, with an adult version of a "backsie". According to the Wall Street Journal, Pincus has been giving select employees the option of surrendering stock options (presumably given to compensate for a lower salary in the early days) or be fired.  This is sure to create a wave of distrust that will last for years, not just at Zynga, but at other Silicon Valley start-ups.  These are the kinds of stories that are permanently etched in employees' psyches. Photo by birgerking.

• Giving trust is not as simple as it seems. While coaching, I was struck by the similarity in two clients' stories, one a manager in a large company and the other, an independent consultant.  Both were having trouble delegating the day-to-day stuff, either to a subordinate or a subcontractor, to make time for more strategic activities.  Both felt it was often easier to do it on their own, rather than risk an output by someone else who didn't live up to their standards.  The core issue for each is trusting others.

• Trust = Dignity + Respect. At a large company known for purposely creating high turnover (I know, it sounds crazy, right?), I'm told that employees are clocked in/out and checked for whether they spent a full eight hours a day at the office.  Getting fresh air in a company courtyard doesn't count as "being in the office", as a card reader clocks employees in and out of the courtyard.  At a smaller company, an assistant to the CEO made the rounds to all of the employee desks at 6pm each evening.  This was jokingly referred to as "The Bedcheck." We're not talking about teens flipping burgers.  We're talking about professionals who are being treated with less respect than we give our pets. Photo by IDenticardimages.

Having said all this, my intention is not to whine about how bad workplaces can get.  There's plenty of that already.  My intention is to draw attention to how important trust is in making businesses work well, whether you are an employee, self-employed, or lead a business. 

The wonderful thing about trust is that when it is well-rooted in the culture and work relationships, it yields incredible results.  A friend who is a seasoned manager and leader wrote to me recently: 

Like my friend, I'm convinced that most people want to do great work and will do so if they are treated as professionals–with dignity, respect, and trust.  

Photo by DrewbieDoo