The Four Cores of Credibility

As we delve deeper into the ‘The Speed of Trust’ I want you to ask yourself: Do I EXUDE trust? As I mentioned last week, I used to think I had the highest level of Trust ….but then I found out what was involved in Trust and I have a long way to go.

There are ‘Four Cores of Credibility’: They are your Integrity, Intent, Capabilities, and Results. All have a vital role in the whether or not you Exude Trust. So let’s take a brief look at each of these:

INTEGRITY: I bet when you started reading these blogs over the last few weeks you felt that Trust was based entirely on Integrity, but it is much much more. It is integratedness. It is how all elements of your core values work together to make you into the person that people Trust ….or a person that people Don’t Trust. Whenever this segment of the Four Cores is broken that is when you have a massive violation of trust.

INTENT: What is your motive, your agenda in every relationship? Ours is simple, look after the customers’ best interests in all matters and the old adage: The Customer is ALWAYS Right…even when they are wrong, they are always right. I try really hard to be open and straightforward in all my dealings. I find it way to tedious to be deceitful. It is a lot easier just to be honest about what your motives are…assuming your motives are pure. When we work for what is in everyone’s best interests, and express it that way, you make major strides in developing trust. As Mr. Covey says: ‘Both integrity and intent are matters of character’. Simple, straightforward, and could not be more on target.

CAPABILITIES: I bet you are wondering about this guy. It’s simple, you can be honest, have the clients best interests at heart, but if you cannot walk and chew gum at the same time, much less have the skill set to solve the clients problems, than you will not build trust with a client. The other way to think about it is do you have the capabilities to establish, grow, extend, and restore trust?

RESULTS: Basically, do you deliver? At game time do you score or fumble? Our clients love me. They just love me a little bit more because we deliver on promises-100% of the time (well 99.5% based on last quarter). If you do not deliver on what is expected of you than obviously lose trust. One of the things that makes such an easy sell is that our Reputation Precedes Us. Both Capabilities and Results are matters of competence.

So you now see where trust comes from. There is a bit of work involved but nothing that is difficult. Be honest, be straightforward, have the skills to deliver, and when it is game time, push the ball over the goal. Do these things and you will generate trust…by the boatload.

How Trust Works

As I continue to work through the great book, The Speed of Trust, I keep going back to the point of How Trust Works. You might think you know, I know I did but after the next two blogs you will find out that creating trust is not just making commitments and keeping them. Oh no, it is much much more than that.

I want you to think about Who Do You Trust? A parent, a teacher, a coach (my favorite)? How about a best friend or your spouse? Now let’s get to the meat of the matter and the reason you are reading this: Do you trust your vendors, do you trust your clients, and the big one, do you trust your employees?

Now why do you trust them? Yeah, that’s the easy answer. I ask it again, another reason why do you trust them? What is it about this relationship that inspires trust? As you ask yourself this question over and over again, you find many reasons why you trust them.

Now for the tough part. WHO DO YOU NOT TRUST: An ex-wife (another of my personal favorites), an ex-friend, an ex-client, partner, vendor? So the question again, what is it about those relationships that killed trust? Stay out of the weeds and the stories. Just stick with the direct answers. Oh yeah, by the way, why would you continue to be friends with, do business with, even be married to…someone you don’t trust? Wow is that a whole different kettle of fish.

There might be many different reasons that you trust people but my guess is that with the people you do not trust, pretty much the same reason comes up over and over again.

Now for the really tough one: Who trusts you? Don’t say everybody. As honorable as I think I am, my guess is there are some people that do not trust me. The people at home, do they trust you? How about the people at work? People you just met, do you just engender trust? How about people that have known you for a long time, does your veneer just wear thin after a while?

Most of us think that trust is all about character, of being honest, taking the hit when things get tough, making commitments and then keeping them. I am here to tell you that to think that trust is based solely on character is a myth.

Next week I will get into where trust really comes from

Until Next Week……..

High Trust vs Low Trust

As mentioned in an earlier blog, I have been reading a truly life changing book, called ‘The Speed of Trust’ and will be teaching it to my Mangers and using it as a basis for my blogs for the next few months. Today I want to think about how do you feel in a high trust relationship and how do you feel in a low trust relationship?

Reading this book has allowed me to review how I feel about the relationships I am in. This not just business, this is social and friendships as well. As some of you might know, when I moved from Houston, I cut loose a ton of relationships with people, I now realized, I was in a low trust relationship. When you are in a Low Trust relationship with a vendor of yours how does that make you feel? Are you sluggish in working with them and quick to judgment? Do you feel like each email needs to read like a legal brief? Do you feel like the two of you do not share common, if not identical goals? Does it feel like the two of you are working towards ‘who looks right’ instead of ‘what works best’? I am getting exhausted just typing these nonproductive scenarios; just imagine how exhausting it is living through them. Oh, you already have been living in them?

Now think about what a High Trust relationship looks like. Do you have one of those to refer to, or are you tied into nothing but the low trust types? Do you see how the conversations just flow between you and your vendor? Heck, this person is not your vendor; this is one of your most trusted advisors! The collaboration is clean, the responses immediate the language clear and concise and agreed to. I notice there are no surprises in my High Trust relationships. Even if there is something that was unforeseen, it is not treated as a surprise because my vendor is always given the benefit of the doubt.

I fired a vendor earlier this year, someone who I bought a couple of million dollars a year in equipment from. I fired them, not because of price, not because of quality, but simply because I could not trust one word that came out of their mouths. I was tired and exhausted, but it allowed me to understand the high cost and slow speed of low trust relationships. It’s exhausting and never worth it. My new vendor is a complete blessings and I suspect we will double our orders with him by the end of the year. We are reviewing another vendor right now that is high cost and slow speed and based on what I learned earlier this year, I know what to do.

Until next time…………….