Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Covey’s Speed of Trust 17: Behavior 13 & Smart Trust

Covey smart trust matrixThis continues our review of Stephen M. R. Covey’s book The Speed of Trust. Read and apply it.

Covey describes the 13th behavior, Extend Trust, “While the other behaviors help you become a more trusted person or manager, this behavior will help you become a more trusting leader. Not only does it build trust, it leverages trust. It creates reciprocity; when you trust people, other people tend to trust you in return.” We will also review Covey’s invitation to extend “Smart Trust”.

Behavior 13: Extend Trust

Covey writes “Extend trust—is different in kind from the rest of the behaviors. It’s about shifting from ‘trust’ as a noun to ‘trust’ as a verb. While the other behaviors help you become a more trusted person or manager, this behavior will help you become a more trusting leader.”

  • “Extend trust is based on the principles of empowerment, reciprocity, and a fundamental belief that most people are capable of being trusted, want to be trusted and will run with trust when it is extended to them.”
  • “The opposite is to withhold trust, which creates an enormous cost everywhere, especially in organizations.”
  • “The counterfeit of Extend Trust takes two forms
    • “The first is extending ‘false trust.’ It’s giving people the responsibility, but not the authority or resources, to get a task done”
    • “The second is extending ‘fake trust’ –acting like you trust someone when you really don’t.”

Smart Trust

Covey warns “Extending trust can bring great dividends. It also creates the possibility of significant risk. So how do you hit the ‘sweet spot’? How do you extend ‘Smart Trust’ in a way that maximizes the dividends and minimizes the risk?”

Study the above graphic:

  • “Zone 1 (High Propensity to Trust: Low Analysis) is the ‘Blind Trust’ zone of gullibility”
  • “Zone 2 (High Propensity to Trust; High Analysis) is the ‘Smart Trust’ zone of judgment
  • Zone 3 (Low Propensity to Trust; Low analysis) is the ‘No Trust’ zone of indecision
  • Zone 4 (Low Propensity to Trust; High Analysis) is the ‘Distrust’ zone of suspicion

Friday we discuss Covey’s third wave of trust: Organizational Trust and Alignment

Monday, October 29, 2012

Covey’s Speed of Trust 16: Behaviors 11 & 12 for Wave 2

Covery relationship trustThis continues our series on Stephen M. R. Covey’s book The Speed of Trust. I highly recommend the book to all my readers.

An old adage applies to Listen First. “There was an old owl who sat on an oak. The more he saw, the less he spoke. The less he spoke, the more he heard. Why can’t we be like this wise old bird?” Covey calls Keep Commitments “the big kahuna” of all behaviors. Roger Merrill said “When you make  a commitment, you build hope. When you keep a commitment, you build trust.”

Behavior 11: Listen First

Covey says “To Listen First means not only really listen (to genuinely seek to understand another person’s thoughts, feelings, experience and point of view), but to do it first (before you try to diagnose, influence, or prescribe).”

  • “The principles behind Listen First include understanding, respect, and mutual benefit”
  • “The opposite is to speak first and listen last—or not to listen at all”
  • “The counterfeit is pretend listening. It’s spending ‘listening’ time thinking about your reply and just waiting for your turn to speak”
  • Additional tips include
    • “Don’t assume you know what matters most”
    • “Don’t presume you know everything”

Behavior 12: Keep Commitments

Covey writes ““It’s the quickest way to build trust in any relationship—be it with an employee, a boss, a team member, a customer, a supplier, a spouse, a child, or the public in general.”

  • "Keep commitments is based on the principles of integrity, performance, courage, and humility”
  • ”The opposite—to break commitments or violate promises—is, without question, the quickest way to destroy trust”
  • “The counterfeit of this behavior is to make commitments that are so vague or elusive that nobody can pin you down, or, even worse, to be so afraid of breaking commitments that you don’t even make any in the first place”
  • Additional tips include:
    • “Make keeping commitments the symbol of your honor”
    • “Make commitments carefully and keep them”
    • “Don’t break confidence”
    • “Don’t attempt to “PR” your way out of a commitment you’ve broken”

Wednesday we conclude the 13 Behaviors and summarize how to rebuild lost trust

Friday, October 26, 2012

Covey’s Speed of Trust 15: Behavior 9 & 10 for Wave 2

covey portraitWe continue our review of Stephen M. R. Covey’s book The Speed of Trust. Buy it! Study it!

Behaviors 9 and 10 complement each other. You build trust when you clarify expectations so that others cannot misunderstand them. Covey shares a story of a teenage daughter thinking she had cleaned her room. Her mother did not think so. The mother had not clarified her expectations about clean to her daughter. The author continues“You can practice accountability far better when you’ve clarified expectations first. It’s hard to hold someone accountable if they’re not clear on what the expectations are.”

Behavior 9: Clarify Expectations

Covey writes “Behavior #9—Clarify Expectations—is to create shared vision and agreement about what is to be done up front. This is one of those behaviors that people rarely pay enough attention to”

  • “Clarify Expectations is based on the principles of clarity, responsibility, and accountability”
  • “The opposite  is to leave expectations undefined—to assume they’re already  known or to fail to disclose them so there is no shared vision of the desired outcomes”
  • “The counterfeit is to create ’smoke and mirrors’ –to give lip service to clarifying expectations, but fail to pin down the specifics that facilitate  meaningful accountability”
  • Make clarify expectations work
    • “Quantify everything: What results? By whom? By when? At what cost? How will you measure it?”
    • “Look at three variables—quality, speed, and cost—and realize that you can usually pick any two, but not all three”
    • “It is much better to do it up front than to disappoint them later”

Behavior 10: Practice Accountability

Covey describes “There are two key dimensions to the Practice Accountability. The fist is to hold yourself accountable; the second is to hold others accountable. Leaders who generate trust do both.”

  • “This behavior is  built on the principles of accountability, responsibility, stewardship, and ownership.”
  • “The opposite of this behavior is to not take responsibility, to not own up, but to rather say, ‘It’s not my fault’”
  • “Its counterfeit is to point fingers and blame others, to say, ‘It’s their fault”

Friday we analyze the 11th Behavior Listen First and the 12th Behavior Keep Commitments

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Covey’s Speed of Trust 14: 7th & 8th Behaviors of Wave 2

Covey book coverThis continues our review of Stephen M. R. Covey’s book The Speed of Trust. Please get the book and study it.

Today we discuss two behaviors for building relationship trust: Get Better and Confront Reality. Covey highlights that the older we get, the more our cautious nature wants to prevent mistakes. We get better if we learn from our mistakes. Confronting reality also builds trust in relationships, especially when we demonstrate trust. “Solutions come much faster and better, and are implemented with the understanding, buy-in, and often the excitement of others involved in the problem-solving process.”

Behavior 7: Get Better

“Get better is based on the principles of continuous improvement, learning and change. It is what the Japanese call kaizen, and it builds enormous trust.”

  • “When people see you as a learning, growing, renewing person—or your organization as a learning, growing, renewing organization—they develop confidence in your ability to succeed in a rapidly changing environment, enabling you to build high-trust relationships and move with incredible speed”
  • “The opposite is entropy, deterioration, resting on your laurels or becoming irrelevant”
  • The counterfeits are
    • “The “eternal student” always learning but never producing”
    • “It’s trying to force-fit everything into whatever you’re good at doing”

The author recommends two ways to get better: seek feedback—and listen to it—and learn from mistakes

Behavior 8: Confront Reality

Covey continues ”When you Confront Reality, it affects speed and cost in at least two important ways. First, it builds the kind of relationships that facilitate open interaction and fast achievement. Second, instead of having to wrestle with all the hard issues on your own while trying to paint a rosy picture for everyone else, you actually engage the creativity, capability, and synergy of others in solving those issues.”

  • “Confront Reality is based on the principles of courage, responsibility, awareness and respect”
  • “The opposite is to ignore it, to act as though it doesn’t exist”
  • “The counterfeit is to act as though you’re confronting reality when you’re actually evading it. It’s focusing on busywork while skirting the real issue.”

Saturday we review behaviors 9 Clarify Expectations & 10 Practice Accountability

Monday, October 22, 2012

Covey’s Speed of Trust 13: 5th & 6th Behaviors

Covey waves of trustThis continues our review of Stephen M. R. Covey’s book The Speed of Trust. Buy the book Discover it for yourself.

People frequently violate Behavior 5, Show Loyalty, when they talk about people behind their back. You witness such disloyalty in informal settings at lunch or social activities after work. When someone leaves the group and others begin to criticize or gossip about them. People who do not show loyalty fail to recognize they pay trust tax. Trust also drops when you fail to Deliver Results or deliver them poorly. Deliver Results is the 6th Behavior to Relationship Trust (The 2nd Wave of Trust)

The 5th Behavior of Relationship Trust: Show Loyalty

Covey focuses on two dimensions to Show Loyalty: giving credit to others and speaking of people as though they were present.

  • Give Credit to Others…You not only affirm the value of an individual’s contributions, you also create an environment in which people feel encouraged to be innovative and collaborative and to freely share ideas, kicking in the geometric trust multiplier.”
    • The opposite is to take credit yourself for the work of others.
    • The counterfeit is to give credit to someone when they’re with you, but then downplay their contribution and take all the credit when they are not there.”
  •  Talk About People as if They Were Present…The key is to talk in a way that shows respect. Defend them as if they were present. Don’t disclose private conversations. Go directly to the person with whom you have a concern
    • The opposite: criticize or not represent them fairly when they are not present.
    • The counterfeit: sweet-talk people to their faces and bad-mouth them behind their backs.

The 6th Behavior of Relationship Trust: Deliver Results

Covey writes “Results give you instant credibility and instant trust. They give you clout.”

  • Results provide a powerful tool for building trust in your relationship with others. You must clarify “good”, “mediocre”, and “great” results.
  • The opposite is performing poorly or failing to deliver
  • The counterfeit is delivering activities instead of results

Wednesday we examine Covey’s 7th & 8th behaviors: Get Better & Confront Reality

Friday, October 19, 2012

Covey's Speed of Trust 12: 3rd & 4th Behaviors

covey portraitWe continue reviewing Stephen M. R. Covey’s book The Speed of Trust. I recommend you buy it. He teaches so many things to improve.

Here is a great example about Right Wrongs. A leader of a global nonprofit organization worried he had offended people in the past. He personally visited each person, apologized, and asked their forgiveness. His actions significantly increased trust in his leadership.

Behavior 3: Create Transparency

Covey states “Behavior 3—Create Transparency—is about being open.
  • “It’s about being real and genuine and telling the truth in a way people can verify. It’s based on the principles of honesty, openness, integrity, and authenticity”
  • “The opposite of Create Transparency is to hide, cover, obscure, or make dark. It includes hoarding, withholding, having secrets, and failing to disclose”
  • “The counterfeit of transparency is illusion. It’s pretending, “seeming”, rather than “being,” making things appear different than they really are”
Here’s an ironic example of a trust tax paid for obscurity. A leader in a global organization asked his staff to read The Speed of Trust. Unbeknownst to him, executives were splitting the organization in two: giving international operations to one department, and domestic operations to another. The announcement, especially coinciding with the reading, decimated trust.

Behavior 4: Right Wrongs

Covey continues “Behavior 4—Right Wrongs—is more than simply apologizing; it’s also making restitution.”
  • “It’s making up and making whole. It’s taking action. It’s doing what you can to correct the mistake…and then a little more.”
  • “Right Wrongs is based on the principles of humility, integrity, and restitution. It’s opposite is to deny or justify wrongs, to rationalize wrongful behavior, or to fail to admit mistakes until you’re forced to do so.”
  • “The counterfeit of Right Wrongs is to cover up. It’s trying to hide a mistake, as opposed to repairing it.”
“Even when you’re on the other end—when someone else has wronged you—there are important things you can do to help Right Wrongs and build trust.  By being forgiving, for example, you enable others to more easily apologize and make restitution to you.

Monday we explore behaviors 5 Create Transparency, 6 Right Wrongs

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Covey’s Speed of Trust 11: 1st & 2nd Behaviors

Covey book coverThis continues our review of Stephen M. R. Covey’s Speed of Trust. I still encourage you to buy the book and study it repeatedly

Covey cautions against behaving in extremes on any of the 13 behaviors. He uses a bell chart to emphasize the point. Divide the bell curve into four parts, call each a quartile.  The ends represent extremes. You behave too little in the first quartile and too much in the fourth quartile (two tales or ends) of the curve. We behave in the “sweet spot” in the second and third quartiles (the bulge of the curve). This applies equally to all 13 Behaviors.

Behavior 1: Talk Straight

  • “Be honest. Tell the truth. Let people know where you stand. Use simple language. Call things what they are. Demonstrate integrity.”
  • “The opposite of Talk Straight is to lie or to deceive
  • “Counterfeit behaviors include beating around the bush, withholding information, double-talk (speaking with a forked tongue), flattery, positioning, posturing, and the granddaddy of them all: ‘spinning’ communication in order to manipulate the thoughts, feelings, or actions of others.”

Let me share an example. I worked for an organization that bred counterfeit behaviors. They appointed a new director. He talked straight. He never used hidden agendas or spun things. Previous administrations jaded us so badly that it took two years to recognize he talked straight. Trust built exponentially once we recognized this trait.

Behavior 2: Demonstrate Respect

  • “There are two critical dimensions to this behavior—first, to behave in ways that show fundamental respect for people; and second, to behave in ways that demonstrate caring and concern.” Show respect in the little things.
  • “The opposite  of Demonstrate Respect is to not respect other people.”
  • “The counterfeit of Demonstrate Respect is to fake respect or concern, or, most insidious of all, to show respect and concern for some (those who can do something for you), but not for all (those who can’t).”

You can Talk Straight with less offense when you Demonstrate adequate Respect .

Friday we review the 3rd and 4th behaviors create transparency and right wrongs

Monday, October 15, 2012

Covey’s Speed of Trust 10: 2nd Wave—Relationship Trust

Covey waves of trustWe continue our series reviewing Stephen M. R. Covey’s book The Speed of Trust. I encourage you to buy the book and study it multiple times.

Once you establish or reestablish self-trust (trusting yourself and others trusting you), you move to the second wave of trust: relationship trust. Covey writes “The Second Wave—Relationship Trust—is all about behavior…consistent behavior. It’s about learning how to interact with others in ways that increase trust and avoid interacting in ways that destroy it.”

Relationship Trust

Covey continues “More specifically, it’s about the 13 Behaviors that are common to high-trust leaders and people throughout the world. These behaviors are powerful because:

  • They are based on principles that govern trusting relationships…
  • They grow out of the 4 cores…
  • They are actionable…
  • They are universal…”

The author highlights the need to “If you’re not a caring person now—but you desire to be a caring person—then go out and behave in caring ways. If you’re not an honest person—but you desire to be honest—then go out and behave in honest ways. Just do what caring and honest people do. It may take time, but as you do these things, you can behave yourself into the kind of person you want to be.

Build Trust Accounts

Once again I quote Covey “As you work on behaving in ways that build trust, one helpful way to visualize and quantify your efforts is by thinking in terms of “Trust Accounts.”…By behaving in ways that build trust, you make deposits. By behaving in ways that destroy trust, you make withdrawals. The “balance” in the account reflects the amount of trust in the relationship at any given time.

The 13 Behaviors

He says '”I can promise you that these 13 Behaviors will significantly enhance your ability to establish trust in all relationships—both personal and professional:

  1. Talk Straight
  2. Demonstrate Respect
  3. Create Transparency
  4. Right Wrongs
  5. Show Loyalty
  6. Deliver Results
  7. Get Better
  8. Confront Reality
  9. Clarify Expectations
  10. Practice Accountability
  11. Listen First
  12. Keep Commitments
  13. Extend Trust

We’ll review the behaviors in the next few posts.

Wednesday focuses on 2 behaviors of relationship trust—talk straight & demonstrate respect

Friday, October 12, 2012

Covey’s Speed of Trust 9: 4th Core of Credibility—Results

Covey tree metaphorThis continues our series reviewing Stephen M. R. Covey’s book The Speed of Trust. I highly recommend you buy the book, study it, and implement what you read.

Stephen M. R. Covey shares “Results matter! They matter to your credibility. They matter to your ability to establish and maintain trust with others. In the words of Jack Welch, having results is like having ‘performance chits’ on the table. They give you clout. They classify you as a performer. Without the results, you simply don’t have that same kind of clout.”

“Bottom line, without results, you don’t have credibility.”

Results—Past, Present, and Future

Covey continues “I have worked briefly on Wall Street and been an executive in a public company, and it’s clear to me that there are three key indicators by which people evaluate results.

  • Past performance—your track record, your reputation, the things you’ve done, and the results you’ve already achieved.
  • Current performance—how you are performing today
  • Anticipated performance—how people think you will perform in the future

Ask What and How

He outlines “In considering results, you always need to ask two critical questions:

  • What results am I getting?
  • How am I getting those results?

“Most people only ask the what. They have no idea that the answer to the how may be doing them in…This is why I define leadership as getting results in a way that inspires trust.  I am convinced that with regards to results, the how matters every bit as much as the what.”

Improve Your Results

How can you improve results? I believe the three accelerators below are most effective:

  • Take responsibility for results: “A results focus is a way of thinking. It’s a different mentality than an activities focus”
  • Expect to win: “We tend to get what we expect—both from ourselves and from others. When we expect more, we tend to get more; when we expect less, we tend to get less”
  • Finish strong: Results are about finishing. You’re probably aware of the old adage, Beginners are many; finishers are few.

Monday we will begin studying the 2nd wave of trust—relationship trust

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Covey’s Speed of Trust 8: 3rd Core of Credibility—Capability

Covey tree metaphorThis continues our review of Stephen M. R. Covey’s book The Speed of Trust. I still suggest that you get it and read it repeatedly.

Self-trust (trust you place in yourself and the trust others place in you) is the first wave of trust. Credibility remains the foundation of self-trust. The four cores of credibility are integrity, intent, capability, and results. Integrity and intent enhance your character. Capabilities and results increase your competence. 

TASKS Describes Technical Abilities

Covey writes “One way to think about the various dimensions of capabilities is to use the acronym ‘TASKS’.”

  • T=talents: “’Talents’ are those things that come to us naturally…As we think about our talents, we need to realize that we may have talents within us that we cannot currently know we have.”
  • A=attitudes: “Consider the difference attitudes might make in your personal enjoyment of life and your ability to perform.” He warns you to beware of an attitude of entitlement. Entitlement depletes credibility fast.
  • S=skills: “Unless you’re continually improving your skills, you’re quickly becoming irrelevant. And when you’re irrelevant, you’re no longer credible.”
  • K=knowledge: “Increasing knowledge is vital in today’s global economy, where the world’s fund of information now doubles every two to two and half years.
  • S=style: “Clearly there is a wide variety of effective styles. The challenge is to match the style to the highest effectiveness for the task. The problem comes when you have a ‘style’ that gets in the way and creates distrust.”

The author continues “The end in mind here is to develop our TASKS and to match them to the tasks at hand—to create the best possible alignment between our natural gifts, our passions, our skills, knowledge, style and the opportunity to earn, to contribute, to make a difference.”

How to Increase Your Capabilities

You can increase credibility by increasing capabilities:

  • Run with your strengths (and your purposes) and then focus on engaging, developing, and leveraging what is distinctly yours
  • Keep yourself relevant through life-long learning
  • Know where you’re going demonstrates competence

Friday we will review the results, last core of credibility, in the 1st wave of self-trust

Monday, October 8, 2012

Covey’s Speed of Trust 7: 2nd Core of Credibility—Intent

Covey tree metaphorThis continues our series reviewing Stephen M. R. Covey book The Speed of Trust

The first wave of trust establishes trust in yourself. Stephen M. R. Covey describes four cores of credibility to establish self-trust. The first and second of the cores, integrity and intent, affirm your character. The third and fourth core, capabilities and results, affirm your competence. Trust drops when people either misunderstand or doubt your intent. So, let’s discuss how to clarify your intent to others.

What is Intent?

Covey writes “In the dictionary, intent is defined as ‘plan’ or ‘purpose.’ I am convinced that no discussion of intent would be complete without talking about three things: motive, agenda, and behavior.”

  • Motive is your reason for doing something…the ‘why’ that motivates the ‘what’. The motive that inspires the greatest trust is genuine caring—caring about people, caring about purposes, caring about the quality of what you do, caring about society as a whole”
  • Agenda grows out of motive. Its what you intend to do or promote because of your motive. The agenda that generally inspires the greatest trust is seeking mutual benefit."
  • Behavior is the manifestation of motive and agenda. The behavior that best creates credibility and inspires trust is acting in the best interest of others.

Misunderstandings about intent frequently reduce credibility. For example, you may ask a question during a meeting or webinar. Perhaps others in the meeting question your motive or assume you possess a hidden agenda.

How to Improve Intent

Covey continues “When we believe people truly are acting in our best interest, we tend to trust them. When we believe that they are not acting in our best interest, we do not trust them. It’s that simple. The challenge then, is to improve intent. So here are the top three accelerators I recommend to help you do it.”

  • Examine and Refine Your Motives to verify why you do what you do
  • Declare Your Intent in words everyone can understand
  • Choose Abundance, not of scarcity, as a foundational element of improving intent

Wednesday we will review Stephen M. R. Covey’s 3rd core of credibility—capabilities

Friday, October 5, 2012

Covey’s Speed of Trust 6: 1st Core of Credibility--Integrity

Covery trust character and competenceThis continues our series reviewing Stephen M. R. Covey’s book The Speed of Trust. I encourage you to buy the book.

The first wave of trust is self-trust. Self-trust grows based on the 4 Cores of Credibility integrity, intent, capability, and results. The first two contribute to character. The second two enhance competence. This post examines the first core: integrity.

Honesty Plus Three

Covey writes that integrity must include three qualities more than honesty:

  • Congruence means that there is no gap between intent and behavior. The person is whole, seamless, the same—inside and out.”
  • Humility refers to Jim Collins research that Level 5 Leaders exhibit strong humility rather than ego
  • Courage: Integrity must include the courage to do the right thing—even when its hard. This kind of courage encourages others to have courage.

How to Increase Integrity

Covey suggests “three high-leveraged ‘accelerators’ that make a powerful difference in increasing integrity:”

  • “Make and Keep Commitments to Yourself. He shares a few tips
    • Don’t make more commitments than you can keep
    • Treat a commitment  you make to yourself with as much respect as you do the commitments you make to others
    • Don’t make commitments impulsively
    • Understand that when keeping your commitment becomes hard, you have two choices
      • You can change your behavior to match your commitments
      • Or, you can lower your values to match your behavior”
  • “Stand for Something" Core values give you something to stand for. He shares a story from the life of Jon Huntsman, Sr.who lost $200 million dollars because he gave his word to sell a part of his business for $54 million. Six months later when the buyer finished the papers, the company was worth $250 million. Huntsman abided by the original agreement.  Huntsman stood for the word he gave to the sale
  • “Be open” Covey writes “Openness is vital to integrity. It take both humility and courage—humility to acknowledge that there are principles out there you may not currently to aware of, and courage to follow them once you discover them.”

Monday we examine intent the second core of credibility in the first wave of trust

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Covey’s Speed of Trust 5: See, Speak, & Behave

Covery relationship trustThis continues our series reviewing Stephen M. R. Covey’s book The Speed f Trust

Covey writes “The purpose of this book to enable you to see, speak and behave in ways that establish trust, and all three dimensions are vital. You’ll be able to see a trust in an entirely different way…It will also give you a language to speak about trust…Finally, this book will help you develop the behaviors that establish and grow trust.”

How This Book Will Help

The Speed of Trust will give you:

  • “Trust glasses” so that you see trust differently and open your eyes to a new world of trust
  • A new language to speak about trust, to describe your underlying issues involved, and it will give you the language to describe those issues
  • Behaviors that establish and grow trust—especially the 13 behaviors of high-trust leaders. Learning these behaviors helps you recognize the impact when people practice—or don’t practice them

Shift Your Paradigms

Covey highlights how we can shift how see, what we speak, and how we behave. For example, when we serve someone we begin to see them differently than we did before. Because we see them differently, we behave differently around that person and towards others. Our behavior shift ultimately leads to a shift in how see the world.

Changing the language we use can also shift how we behave or see the world. Dean Curtis taught this principle with a formula Event + Language = Motivation. He showed how changing the language people used to describe events in their life changed their motivation.

Interdependence of See, Speak, & Behave

Covey continues “Clearly, these three dimensions are interdependent, and whenever you effect a change in one dimension, you effect a change in all three. For this reason, this book will focus on see, speak, and behave so that you will have not only the paradigms, but also the language and the behaviors need to establish trust and grow.”

Buy and Study The Speed of Trust

Friday we will review in more depth the first wave of self-trust & the 4 Cores of Credibility

Monday, October 1, 2012

Covey’s Speed of Trust 4: Five Waves of Trust

Covey waves of trustThis continues our series on Stephen M. R. Covey’s book The Speed of Trust

Covey describes people who don’t trust themselves, friends, management, financial markets, or society in general. He criticizes those who state they can do nothing about the lack of trust in the company, market, or society. He encourages each of us to build trust in five waves as pictured in the graphic. We will outline all 5 waves today and delve deeper into each wave in future posts.

First Wave: Self Trust

We must first “trust our ability to set and achieve goals, fulfill commitments, and to walk our talk—and also with our ability to inspire trust in others. Credibility forms the basis of this trust. Covey outlines the “4 Cores of Credibility to increase our personal credibility in order to firmly establish trust with ourselves and with others.”

Second Wave: Relationships Trust

“Relationship trust is about how to establish  and increase the ‘trust accounts’ we have with others. The key principle underlying this wave is consistent behavior.” He outlines 13 key behaviors common to high-trust leaders. These 13 key behaviors can be learned and applied to develop trust at any level.”

Third Wave: Organizational Trust

“Organizational trust deals with how leaders can generate trust in all kinds of organizations, including business, non-profits organizations, government entities, educational institutions, and families, teams, or groups. The key principle underlying organizational trust is alignment.”

Fourth Wave: Market Trust

“Market trust is the level at which almost everyone  clearly understands the impact of trust. The underlying principle of this wave is reputation. It’s about your company brand (as well as your personal brand) which reflects the trust of customers, investors, and others in the marketplace have in you.”

Fifth Wave: Societal Trust

“ Societal trust is about creating value for others and for society at large. The principle underlying this wave is contributions. By contributing or “giving back,” we counteract the suspicion, cynicism, and low-trust inheritance taxes within our society.”

Buy The Speed of Trust! Study it—repeatedly!

Wednesday we begin our examination of each of the five waves with Self Trust