“To be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved.” George MacDonald.
What is trust? Trust is a mental state of reliance on the integrity of a person. When you trust someone you believe that he or she is going to do what you expect.
Why is trust so important? As you probably know the human being is by nature a social animal. We need to develop and maintain relationships with others. We need those relationships to be healthy, to be happy, and to be successful. You probably have many of them but what really matters is not the quantity, but the quality. Trust is the foundation on which a relationship is built. Trust is the ingredient for a healthy relationship. In any kind of relationship (with colleagues, friends, your partner, your family, teachers, bosses, an audience, customers, readers, and so on) trust is a treasure that is hard to gain but easy to lose.
Next, I will share with you the 5 core elements needed to build trust in your relationships:
Truth
Keep your word
Your word has to be as valuable and unbreakable as diamond. If you make a promise, you keep it. Don’t make promises you can’t keep. Your word is one of your greatest assets. Please, use it wisely, keep it clean and don’t abuse it, if not, you will regret it for a long time. Follow this advice and you will become a reliable person and, thus, you will build trust in any kind of relationship (customers, readers, boss, partner, friends, and so on). Why? Because they can count on you, they know how important it is for you to keep your promises. They trust you because they know that your word is worth to you more than a fortune.
Tell the truth
You must always tell the truth. Or, in other words: you would never lie about anything. Why? Because if you tell a lie, even a little one, people will lose respect for you. How can they trust you if you lied to them? If people catch you in a lie they will not believe you anymore, they will not trust your word.
Be transparent
However, to be truthful is not just to not lie and to keep your promises, it’s also to be transparent with the other person. You have to be yourself, showing who you really are with no deception or tricks. Avoid artificial roles or actions. If people realize that you aren’t being yourself they will distrust you. Regarding trust, natural prevails over unnatural. So, be sincere and talk with your own voice.
– If you are a blogger, this is a good example of being transparent: One Huge Mistake
“I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you” Friedrich Nietzsche.
Perseverance
Persistent people who work hard and keep their promises are respected, valued and trusted. Who keep working towards their goals despite the obstacles, difficulties or discouragement will get rewarded for it. Take your work seriously and don’t give up easily because that builds trust. Persistent people don’t like to let anyone down. You know that you can count on them to do what they say they will do. Most committed people are trustworthy because of their competence. Commitment shines through persistent work. Hence, if you want to build trust you need to be persistent and consistent with your actions.
– Some good tips to Develop Persistence.
Integrity
Being honest, decent, respectable, loyal and fair with others build trust. On the contrary, a dishonest person, who only cares about his own interests, inspires distrust and suspicion.
How to build integrity:
- Act fairly.
- Act upon your moral and ethical principles and not just upon material interests.
- Help others to achieve what they want.
Reputation
The reputation and credibility is given by others. You just can’t give yourself a good reputation. That status is given by others when they say positive things about you and your work. Work well done is greatly appreciated and rewarded with praise and admiration. But it takes a long time and effort to gain recognition for your work. You simply can’t attain overnight recognition. The key is to demonstrate experience and expertise every day in your work. Show that you are reliable, honest and trustworthy doing what you said you would do. Another good way to build reputation is doing things for others and treating them respectfully and fairly.
There are two ways to build reputation and credibility:
1- Treating people fairly and equally
Apply the rule: “Treat others as you would like to be treated.” What would you like others to do for you? Do that for them. For example, imagine that you’d like to receive more comments on your blog: comment on other blogs and maybe you receive some comments from them in return. More RTs to your tweets: RT other people’s stuff. The idea is that you get what you give. Don’t pretend to receive honey when you give nothing. Or in other words, don’t pretend to be appreciated when you are indifferent to others’ needs and feelings. Don’t worry if someone didn’t do anything for you in return. You don’t have to expect anything in return for your kind and helpful actions, just do them. What is really important is that you did something good for another person.
Benefits for doing something good for others:
- Feel better by doing something good for others.
- People are incredibly appreciative: Do something for others and they probably will do something for you. When you do something for someone else without expecting anything in return, you create an invisible tie with that person. People will feel they owe you something, it’s like an imaginary debt, in other words, people feel they should “pay” for what they received. Again, don’t worry if they don’t do anything for you in return, do it without expecting anything from them.
- If you do something for someone else without expecting anything in return you build a good reputation among others.
2- Doing a job well done
Your work is your calling card. Your work is a reflection of who you are. What does your work say about you? Do always your best. Don’t accept less than the best.
– How to Use the Web to Build a Powerful Reputation in Any Industry
Satisfaction
Anyone who comes in contact with you has an expectation of what will happen. If you satisfy that expectation you build trust. If you exceed all expectations you win admiration and, of course, you build trust and credibility. But if you don’t satisfy that expectation you lose credibility and respect from those who have a relationship with you personally or professionally. Trust depends on keeping commitments. But the key here is to satisfy that expectation over and over again, day after day, year after year, and so on. Yes, I know it’s a lot of work, you have to put forth effort to build trust, but it is worth it. So, to build trust you have to satisfy the expectations with perseverance, not do so just once, but again and again. The more times you meet other people’s expectation on you, the greater the trust you will get from them.
And remember, trust is hard to gain but easy to lose. It may take a long time until the other person trust you, but it just takes one misstep to ruin a good reputation.
Written by: David Cantone
My Twitter: @DavidCantone
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Now, I’m looking to you for some wisdom:
Use the comments section of this post as a forum to share your own experiences, opinions and thoughts on this subject.
Share your thoughts & ideas and enjoy what others share with you 🙂
————————————————————————————————————–
Bookmark & Promote: (Del.icio.us – Stumble Upon – Twitter)
