The Garden of Trust

Trust is the most important social capital of leaders in change situations. It is as simple as that: If people in an organization trust each other, and if they trust their managers, they are ready to embark on a change journey. Affecting change in an organization in which people do not trust each other might not be impossible (although it seems like), but it takes much more effort. Under such conditions the change project bears a high risk of conflict; people will suffer from pain because they feel lost without a clear indication of how to get out of the labyrinth.

Building trust, however, takes a long time and depends on the expression and encouragement of certain behaviours such as:

• transparency and honesty,
• open dialogue,
• reliability,
• empathy,
• decisiveness and the ability to give and keep direction.

Trust must not be confused with blind agreement. People might disagree with the directions they get from their managers but they might still trust them (or vice versa). Peter Block, author of The Empowered Manager, noted that the apparent power of those at the top is much less than absolute. What leaders can do from the top down depends on the will of those below. Block recommended that leaders analyze their relationship with each of their essential people by asking two questions:

1. How much do I trust them?
2. How much do I agree with them?

Questions for Deeper Exploration

• What aspects of our corporate culture encourage people to trust each other, and which aspects disencourage them?
• Which are the indicators that tell us that trust is lost or gained?
• Do leaders in our organization always walk the talk?
• What do we have to change to establish a culture of trust?