The foundation of any relationship, whether it is personal or business is TRUST. Regardless if you are valued by either a business or individual, nothing will decrease your value quicker than not being trustworthy. If you can’t trust someone, how can you have any confidence in what they say? As a leader, I want to trust a person once we agree to something. One of my favorite movies is Blindside. It demonstrates the confidence a quarterback has in his offensive tackle that protects his blindside.
Don’t Be Quick to Promise But Be Quick to Deliver
I will never forget a statement one of my first managers told me. He said, “Don’t be quick to promise but be quick to deliver”. What does that mean? It means don’t be so quick to promise to do something regardless of what it is. However, once you commit, then be quick to do it. This is an excellent quote for work. But let’s think about this outside of work. You are getting your car repaired. You take it in and they say it will not exceed a certain amount or it will be completed by a certain time. Yet when you get there, you found out it cost more or your vehicle wasn’t done by the time you agreed upon. Are you going to have any confidence in that repair shop in the future?
When my supervisor gave me a project, we would agree on a timeframe. I’m not saying he wouldn’t mandate the completion date due to the situation. However, once I agreed, my supervisor wouldn’t have to check up on me. He knew (trusted) that I would complete it as we agreed.
Trust is Like a Checking Account
Building trust can be compared to a checking account. You have so much money in your checking account. If you write a check for more than you have in your account, normally the bank honors your check and charges you a $35 overdraft. Each time you do this, the bank charges you another $35 overdraft fee. Some banks will allow 3-4 overdraft fees a month. So, in essence, if you write a $100 check with only $95 in your checking account, it will cost you $135; $100 check and $35 overdraft charge. Think about this, if you do this 3 times a month, you are wasting $105. In essence, it cost you more money than the total of the bills you are paying.
Trust works the same way. If you commit to something and fail to deliver, you are overdrafting your trust account with that person. If it happens once in a while then your trust account should be okay. However, if you continue to miss deadlines or not do what you committed to, then the trust account is overdrawn. In essence, you are withdrawing more trust then you put into the account. Now, it takes a lot more effort to rebuild trust with that person.
If you continually miss the agreed upon requirement, there won’t be any trust. Without trust, your value quickly decreases and I’m sure the other party is looking for ways out of the situation.
