Trust in Balance
Trust in Balance
Trust in Balance
Executive summary
This book underscores the importance of trust in today’s business environment. The book is
organized in four parts. The first part tries to describe the business forces that are making trust
even more important and even more elusive. Second part describes the key imperatives needed to
build trust: achieving results, acting with integrity and demonstrating concern. In the third part the
author talks about the key focal points within the organisation for building trust. He also
elaborates on the role of the leadership in building a high trust organisation or team and talks
about the architecture and culture of the organisation that is needed to sustain appropriate levels
of trust that will lead to improved performance. In the last part the author examines specific trust
dilemmas, such as those that arise during downsizing and reengineering efforts. The author also
presents effective approaches for overcoming the challenges and obstacles inherent in situations
of extreme distrust. Lastly he addresses the problem of sustaining trust in the face of uncertainty
and competing demands.
Using examples from Hewlett Packard, AlliedSignal, Motorola, GE, and Continental,
Robert Bruce Shaw explains why trust is a critical business issue for the leaders. He illustrates
how trust is won or lost, and details pragmatic action steps for building and sustaining trust across
the organization.
Book review
Success in business primarily requires two things: a winning competitive strategy and superb
organizational execution. Distrust is an enemy to both. The importance of trust becomes clear
when we try to imagine a world without it. In such a world, we would live in a state of chronic
suspicion. At best, people would be indifferent to others. At worst, they would be fearful of each
other. In a world without trust, leaders are seen as self-serving and manipulative. Few people are
willing to follow them. A commitment to a project or goal becomes meaningless since it might, or
might not, be fulfilled. All transactions take place in cash, as people do not trust that they will
receive payment for products delivered or services rendered.
While some of these characteristics are all too familiar, a world completely devoid of
trust can exist only in our imagination. We cannot survive without others. Thus, we trust because
we have no choice but to depend on other people. Business is built on a myriad of subtle
agreements and obligations that transcend any legal stipulations. Every leader bases his or her
actions on information that others within the organization provide. In short we have no choice but
to deal with the dilemmas of trust, for trust is at the core of all business activity, virtually all
economic activity is carried out by groups of people who depend on each other.
The reality of today’s business environment is clear: embrace change or die. Competitive
advantage arises not from a firm’s historical strengths but from its ability to build new strengths
in relation to emerging threats and opportunities. In other words, competitive advantage comes
from an organization’s ability to use its current resources to replace what worked in the past with
new and innovative approaches. Building new strengths requires that firms abandon at least in
part the past practices. This is where trust comes in. trust increases the likelihood that people will
abandon past practices in favour of new approaches.
We are seeing the emergence of new types of organizational structures and teams that
require a higher degree of autonomy and collaboration. Old forms of control are being replaced
buy innovative approaches that give people far greater power than at any time in the past. For
example, the front desk clerks in some five star hotels now have the authority to delete substantial
amount from a guest’s bill if a mistake has been made or poor service provided. The strict
policies and procedures that accompany bureaucracy institutionalize distrust. After all,
bureaucracies are based on the assumption that people will abuse power if we entrust them with
it. Trust is replaced buy formal regulations that force people to behave in ways deemed
appropriate by those in positions of authority.
Defining trust
The word trust is derived from the German word ‘trost’, which suggests comfort. It
begins with an assessment of another’s capabilities or character. In most cases, we trust those
who demonstrate they are worthy of it. Yet trust is not always rooted in past experience with
others. This is how trust is distinguished from confidence. Confidence arises as a result of
specific knowledge; it is built on reason and fact. In contrast, trust is based, in part, on faith. We
sometimes give our trust in spite of evidence that might suggest we should feel some caution, if
not outright suspicion, about relying on another. Trust, however, is not absolute faith. Pure faith is
beyond reason: those with such faith can justify any event or view, even if it conflicts with their
worldview; this is what we mean by blind faith. Trust then is more simple confidence and less
than blind faith.
We trust those who meet our expectations. Trust thus hinges on our assessment of
another’s capacity to meet our needs. We evaluate people’s trustworthiness in relation to what we
expect from them. Understanding another’s expectations is therefore essential in determining how
best to build a trusting relationship. But the implicit or “background” expectations are the ones
that create the unseen land mines in the process of establishing and maintaining trust. For
instance, in some firms people expect lifetime employment even though no one has actually
provided such a guarantee. In fact, employees may hold this expectation even when leadership ha
told them that success in the market place is the only way to ensure job security. Background
expectations such as these are taken for granted until an event makes them explicit.
Thresholds of trust
People have different trust thresholds based on their experiences; the point at which trust
becomes distrust depends on the individuals involved. For example, some patient will never
return to a physician who misdiagnoses even once. The factors that are important in the
establishment of a threshold are: 1) the situation, 2) the person who is going to trust and 3) the
person who is to be trusted.
Since in order to function in the world, we each must trust others to some degree, the
questions facing all of us as individuals and as members of teams, organizations, and society are:
1) how much do we trust others in general? and 2) whom do we trust in specific situations?
LEADERSHIP
PRACTICES
ACHIEVING RESULTS
ORGANIZATIONAL
TRUST
ARCHITECTURE
DEMONS-
TRATING ACTING
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CONCERN INTEGRITY
ORGANIZATIONAL
Review of the title-- Trust in the Balance (author: Robert Bruce Shaw)
Achieving results
The first and perhaps the most important imperative in earning trust in a business setting-
- or indeed, in any setting that demands action and results-- involves people’s performance in
fulfilling their obligations and commitments. The results are key: even if people’s motives are
characterized by goodwill, they will not retain our trust if they are incompetent or powerless to
fulfill the expectations we have of them. In such cases, we deem them unworthy of trust not
because they are malicious but because they cannot deliver. For example, when we rely on a
surgeon in the operating room, we are more interested in his skill and competence as a
professional then in his level of personal concern.
Demonstrating concern
The third imperative for trust is demonstrating concern for others. At the most basic level,
we trust those who care about us. We those whom we believe understand our concerns and will
act in a way that meets or at least does not conflict with our needs. This element of concern
involves the degree to which we believe others are supporting our own well-being or that of the
whole. We expect those we rust to remain loyal to our interests even if future events provide an
incentive to do otherwise. In other words, the imperative concern requires that those we trust be
responsive to our needs even in the face of potentially conflicting pressures. It does not require
that those we trust subjugate their own needs in all situations, but we do assume that these
individuals will not deliberately hurt us or take advantage of our reliance on them. Concern for
others as an imperative for trust goes beyond caring for us as individuals; it includes a broader
concern for the groups of which w are parts. We expect those we trust to extend their concern to
our family, our work team, or our company. This is particularly important in relation to trusting
those in positions of leadership and authority, as their concern or lack of it can have an impact not
only on individuals but on larger groups as well.
example, may need to reengineer her firm to remain competitive, but in doing so, he may have to
let thousands of people go. No matter how well done, the act of terminating thousands of people
will result in the perception that the leader does not care about the workforce. In this case, the
need to achieve results is, at least in terms of perception, at odds with the need to demonstrate
concern.
Trust is also based on perceptions of consistency in our actions and words. In most cases,
trust declines when we act inconsistently and fail to follow through on our commitments. Yet the
nature of today’s business environment makes commitment increasingly short lived as conditions
call for rapid changes in a firm’s strategy and policy. This may mean that an organization’s
directions will he in constant flux. As a result, employee may come to believe that the
organization and its leaders are failing to follow through on their stated intentions.
Monitoring trust
We manage the risks that come with depending on others by assessing—and constantly
reassessing—their trustworthiness. In this way, we are able to balance the need to simplify a
complex world and build supportive relationships through trust with the need to reduce our
vulnerability through distrust and other mechanisms that help protect us from undesirable
outcomes. This is particularly important for those in leadership positions who need both to trust
others and to ensure that such trust is warranted. Most of us attempt to qualify our trust based on a
sound assessment of others’ willingness and ability to meet the expectations we have of them.
The key imperatives—achieving results, acting with integrity, and demonstrating concern for
others—help explain our assessments of another’s trustworthiness. In addition, these imperatives
may determine why some organizations develop appropriate levels of trust while others find
themselves being too restricted (from trusting too little) or too vulnerable (from trusting too
much).
architecture (the structures and procedures that formally influence how a group operates) and the
culture (the informal values, rules, and operating principles) of organizational life.
to deal with a rapidly changing business environment and unwilling to trust people to meet
competitive pressures. In a business setting, the ability to make decisions quickly and move
forward with initiatives is key in sustaining trust.
A bias for action, for encouraging people to act decisively, inevitably results in a
significant number of mistakes. Firms that set high performance objectives, move fast, and take
risks understand that failures will occur. The key, in relation to trust, is to develop approaches
that ensure both that these experiences and thus decrease the likelihood of making the same
mistakes again.
Once the mechanisms are in place to contain the downside of taking risks, a culture that
allows people to deal ore effectively with failure is necessary. There should be trust that those
who fail will be given an opportunity to learn from their mistakes and become better at their jobs
as a result.
Consider, for example, the success of 3M in forecasting innovation over its history. The
firm has met a well-known objective of bringing in 25%of its total revenue from products
introduced within the last five-year period. It is also recognized for providing its researchers with
up to 15% of their time to work on projects that they personally deem important, without formal
authorization from supervisions.
show that they are not responsible for the mistakes that were made). Building trust requires that
those responsible for the errors ambit them and as necessary, explain the factors that produced the
failure. This does not need to be a protracted process, but it must be visible enough so that people
recognize that those involved have taken responsibility for their actions. Goizueta, CEO of Coca
Cola, took complete responsibility for the failed introduction of New Coke and acted quickly to
correct it.
2. Extracting learning from failures
In additions to taking responsibility for the problem, Goizueta took the next step and found the
lesson in failure. He has observed that New Coke’s failed introduction was a turning point for
him in recognizing the importance of the Coke brand in the minds of the customers. Trust
requires that failures be openly discussed, fully understood, and as appropriate, communicated to
people throughout the organization. Both formal mechanisms and informal norms are needed to
ensure that this occurs.
4. Demonstrating progress
Ultimately, trust is recovered after strategic mistakes by taking decisive actions that move an
organization or team forward. In many cases, this involves bringing in a new cadre of senior
leaders who represent a new approach. The goal for leadership is to restore confidence through
actions that indicate the organization is willing to do what is required to move forward.
Basic violations
As with strategic mistakes, ethical violations can erode trust within an organization. This is
particularly true in relation to those in leadership position.
Leaders acting in a deceptive or immoral way will erode their own credibility and, over
time, the confidence that people have in the organization as a whole.
Trust requires that violators of group standards be dealt with swiftly. Trust has a tough
side that demands fair but harsh treatment of those who are dishonest, who steal from the firm
of its clients or in other ways act unethically. Violations of this type are more than an
individual affair; they impact the reputation and culture within an organization and must be
addressed with speed and conviction
Rarely are individuals’ actions completely independent of a larger set of cultural norms
and practices. Thus, violations of ethical standards may indicate that and organization’s
culture is motivating people to act unethically. In the most benign cases, a lack of discussion
about ethical standards can produce a culture of tolerance that is inappropriate in a few key
areas. It is critical to look at the larger organization and assess to what degree its culture and
management practices have influenced the actions of the individuals or groups caught
violating standards.
TAILPIECE
This book offers pragmatic advice to those who seek to build trust-based organizations and
teams. The author talks about the challenges faced by senior leaders of large corporations, as
well as those leading divisions large business groups. He answers a few basic questions that
are especially important to those in the leadership positions:
• What is trust? What does a high trust organization or group look like? How can we assess
the level of trust in an organization or group?
• Why is trust important in high performance organizations and groups? How is trust
related to bottomline success?
• What are the key factors that promote trust in an organization or group? What produces
distrust?
• Why is trust so hard to win and so easy to lose? Can an organization or group regain trust
once it has been lost?
• What can a leader do to build a high trust organization or group?
Although this book is written for those seeking to build high trust organization and groups, it
is not a “ how to” manual that offers easy answers. Building trust requires that each leader
and his organization struggle with the dilemmas inherent in establishing and maintaining
trust. The goal of the author has been to outline these dilemmas and suggest possible actions
based on a set of guiding principles. These suggested actions have been amply illustrated with
examples.
The end