I was chatting with a friend about summer camp recently. Wow, did that bring back memories! I generally loved camp. Boating, swimming, archery, and arts & crafts were a nice change from classrooms and homework.
But there was one thing camp counselors always tried to get me to do that I refused.
Trust falls.
If you’re not familiar with trust falls, they are a “team building” exercise where one person stands on a bench or log while the others form two lines behind them, hands outstretched. The stander is supposed to close their eyes, fold their arms over their chest, and fall backward – trusting the rest of the team to catch them.
I understand the theory behind trust falls. I also agree that building trust is a skill every child should learn. As someone with a lifelong fear of heights, however, I prefer exercises that don’t involve hurling oneself toward the ground. This cartoon by Tom Fishburne, a.k.a. the Marketoonist, suggests I’m not alone.
Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to build trust without tempting gravity. HBR just published a list of 17 ideas for building trust with in-person and remote teams, and I’ll talk more about my go-to strategies in a little later.
First, though, let’s address a core question that leaders often ask when presented with trust programs– why bother?
The Business Value of High Trust
When it comes to the bottom line, here it is – highly trusted companies do better financially than those with low trust. Trust Across America tracks trust at US businesses and found that those with high trust cultures outperform their low trust counterparts in market value by as much as 400%.
What drives that value? It is partly customers who buy more, pay more, and stay longer. In PWC’s 2024 “Trust In Business” survey, 91% of customers said they’re more likely to buy from a company they trust, and 46% said those trusted firms get a larger share of their wallet. Twenty eight percent of customers in the same survey have paid more for a product or service because they trust the company that’s providing it more than they trust others. Interestingly, an earlier PWC trust survey also found that 83% of customers would defend a firm they trust if it made a mistake or hit a rough patch. I don’t know a single CEO who wouldn’t love to have that kind of a buffer.
Another big chunk of ROI comes from employees and leaders who trust each other. Trust is like grease in wheels of everyday business.
Some of the most compelling data I’ve seen on internal trust comes from Dr. Paul Zak, a professor of neuroeconomics I was lucky enough to meet a few years ago. He had just published a book on the relationship between trust and business performance in corporations called “Trust Factor.” It had some compelling – and very non-traditional! – data. Zak’s team took blood from employees before, during, and after certain situations to measure the level of oxytocin (the trust hormone) in their systems. This data, mixed with traditional self-reported feelings, found that people who work in high trust cultures are:
- 76% more engaged at work
- 50% more productive
- 40% less likely to burnout
- 11% more empathetic
This last data point caught my eye because empathy is such an important part of customer centric culture. Employees only have so much emotional energy to give. If they don’t have to worry that a colleague might throw them under the proverbial bus, they have more energy to direct toward serving customers.
Trust also helps preserve mental energy by buffering the effects of stress. Employees in high trust teams recovered faster from stress on a biological level – their heart rates dropped 155% faster and there was a 221% larger decrease in the stress marker ACTH after their work had ended. That faster recovery contributed to a lower absentee rate – as much as 2 fewer sick days per employee.
The overall impact of working with those you trust is a happier employee. People on trust-rich teams were 56% more satisfied with their jobs and almost 90% percent would recommend their company as a place to work. Given how hard it is to find and keep good people these days, this should make focusing on trust a no-brainer.
Four Tips for Promoting Trust
How, exactly, does one go about becoming a high trust company? It’s complicated. Trust is an abstract, pervasive thing that flows up, down, and across the org chart. Most leaders only control a fraction of the ecosystem. The good news is you can make a difference. Trust is contagious, so strengthening relationships within your team or with key business partners can start a positive cycle that ripples out.
To start your own trust snowball, here are four simple things you can do (and encourage others to do) to get and keep trust levels high.
- Understand what trust is. Trust is a function of two things – character and competence.To earn it, you must show people you care about their welfare (character) and are capable of doing what needs to be done for mutual benefit (competence). For example, you can love someone dearly but not trust them to water your plants while you are away because they have a reputation for being forgetful. On the flip side, most people get their own real estate agent when buying a home because the seller’s agent, while competent, negotiates in their best interests not yours.
- Ask questions. To ask a question is to admit that someone knows more than you do.You are trusting them not to use yourignorance against you. Leaders who do this find that others are more likely to return their trust by asking questions of them down the line. One of my favorite examples of this strategy in action is the question a CEO asked during skip level meetings in her first 90 days on the job. “What do I need to know that you think other people are afraid to tell me?”
- Keep commitments – even little ones. We’re diligent about tracking progress toward big goals, but little things matter, too. If you tell someone: “I’ll get back to you by the end of the day” – do it. Even a simple note saying “I’m working on getting what you need, it’s just taking a little longer than I’d hoped” shows you’re conscientious, committed, and care about helping them succeed. I admit, this is a hard thing to do. We often make small commitments during a meeting that we forget as soon as the call is over. That’s normal. It’s human. It’s also a habit worth breaking.
- Admit mistakes. People who try to hide mistakes or sweep bad decisions under the rug are seen as less trustworthy. Why? Because no one is perfect. Trying to appear flawless is a surefire sign you’re hiding something. Even if your secret is small, people can’t help but wonder what else you are holding back – and why. This doesn’t mean you have to blast every foible on a public stage, but if you make a decision that negatively impacts others, and you care about trust, be brave enough to acknowledge it and take steps to mitigate the impact going forward.
There’s so much more I could say about trust, but I don’t want to risk a TLDR so I’ll leave you with one thought – trust accelerates everything. It’s not a silver bullet, but it is a powerful, underused lever. Given the pressure everyone is under to get things done faster, I’m hoping we’ll see that start to change.
Want to talk more about trust and how it can help you drive progress? We’ll be discussing Dr. Zak’s book “The Trust Factor” at our next CX Frontiers book club meeting. To join us or access a recording once the meeting has ended, visit: book club website.
