What does The Speed of Trust mean?

The definition of the term “the speed of trust” in the workplace is: The ease and efficiency with which challenges are met when team members assume full responsibility for earning and sustaining the trust of their teammates. 

In fact, when people trust one another, everything costs less, everything takes less time, and morale is higher.

The above definition and the below excerpt are from Chapter 4 of the book “The Leader’s Code” written by Dr. Ken Chapman. The following explains more practical implications of this:

“A contrast will be helpful here. When two people who do not trust each other meet to solve a problem, solving the problem is not their first concern. Their first concern is the dance. The dance is a way of describing what they must do first: decide how much of what the other person is saying is believable. They shuffle, bob, and weave around the truth until they each believe they have found enough of the truth to proceed. In the meantime, valuable time is lost. Even so, then and only then, can they turn their attention to the problem they wish to solve. The effort to determine how much of what the other person is saying is believable can take a few minutes, a few hours, a few days, or it may never be resolved!

 The absence of trust is costly. Not just because time is money, but also because heroic behavior will rarely show its face in such an environment. 

When people do not trust each other, they act on the margins. They comply. They keep their heads down. They do what they have to do.

 Discretionary energy is not a consideration because it takes so much energy to navigate the potholes (the gotchas) of the culture . People focus on surviving, not thriving . The company lacks the competitive advantage that The Speed of Trust provides. 

In contrast, when two people who do trust each other come together to solve a problem, they don’t make a trip to the dance floor. They go straight to the best resolution of the issue at hand. The speed, efficiency, and ease with which they solve the problem is a quantifiable value-add for the organization. The problem is solved quickly (speed), with fewer resources (efficiency), and with far less wear on people (ease). 

How do you establish The Speed of Trust in your organization? The following (free) podcast episode explains this and more in 35 minutes.