The Trick to Trust

Are you sure you have the trust of your key stakeholders? Because to get through this crisis you’re going to need it.

Managing your company’s response to a cybersecurity attack is a very different thing to leading through the crisis. The latter requires bold decisions. Which require stakeholder support. Which requires trust.

Trust Galvanises Action

Trust is a tricky subject in that it is an ephemeral quality that is earned. In other words, it is someone else’s emotional and logical response to both your competence and your character. It is the step beyond reputation that galvanises action.

The other point of trust being something that is earned, is that it is technically not something that can be built. Whilst this is true in the strictest sense, in practice with some insights it is relatively easy to figure out what the right things to say and do are in order to earn trust. The secret ingredient is of course authenticity.

However, given that humans are emotional beings and the world is a complex place, we can’t build trust through logic alone. And at times of crisis when fear and anxiety are the order of the day emotions take control.  

Leaders must, therefore, to pay extra special attention to their words and actions to make sure they are building rather than eroding trust.

Never forget that “like a virus, words are infectious. They can instil fear and panic or facilitate understanding and calm. Above all, they can spark action. So choose them carefully.”[1]

Like a virus, words are infectious. They can instil fear and panic or facilitate understanding and calm. Above all, they can spark action. So choose them carefully.

But that’s just the ‘dressing’.

Trust in Purpose

Vision trumps eloquence in a crisis. A sound vision for the future and a purpose to give meaning to the hardships we all face will inform your words and actions and create the trust and support you need to flourish into the future.

A proper purpose will guide your thinking and help your decision making. As the authors of Lead from the Future said in a Harvard Business Review article, “it may be hard to see now, but the seeds of the next great growth industries are taking root now.” Their firm did a fascinating study last year of the twenty global companies that achieved the highest-impact transformations of the decade, and found that a newly strengthened sense of purpose was the common denominator.

When you give your team meaning through purpose and your words and actions have resonance, you instil a deep sense of trust and psychological safety in your organisation. When that happens, every part of your organisation feels empowered to take calculated risks, adapt, innovate and move with the speed of the crisis[2].

So, going back to my original question… do you have the trust you need?

[1] Finding the right words in a crisis - https://hbr.org/2020/04/finding-the-right-words-in-a-crisis?ab=hero-main-text

[2] Perfectionism Will Slow You Down in a Crisis - https://hbr.org/2020/04/perfectionism-will-slow-you-down-in-a-crisis