TABLE OF CONTENTS Trust is the knowledge that you will not deliberately or accidentally, consciously or unconsciously take advantage of me.
Douglas McGregor
The ways in which messages are received are often very dependent on the level of trust between the two parties.
What's the difference between trusting and trustworthy behaviour?
FEEDBACK
Trustworthy behaviour includes being honest, keeping promises and always acting ethically. An important trait of any manager is to be trustworthy so that your team and colleagues feel confident in discussing their ideas and opinions openly. You have to use your judgement to select who to trust depending on their past record.
People who have the trustworthiness competence [3]:
Act ethically and are above reproach
Build trust through their reliability and authenticity
Admit their mistakes and confront unethical actions in others
Take tough, principled stands even if they are unpopular.
Goleman [3]
In his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Covey [4] illustrates the connection between trust and co-operation and resulting levels of communication.
Source: adapted from Covey, S. (1989) [4]
When trust and co-operation are low, communication becomes defensive. As trust and co-operation increase you get respectful communication . This is polite communication where people interact but fail to remove barriers and open up. Finally, where trust and co-operation are high both parties are able to be open, honest and creative. This creates synergy which results in both parties benefiting from the exchange.
The following activity asks you to consider...
