Trust is a Must
Trust in the U.S is earned. Trust in many European countries is immediate. The challenge Americans face is working with cultures who trust off the bat. How can Americans find a way to see the competence of a person and not indicate bias from other cultures who may speak slowly, with an accent, a lack of understanding of the American work norms and nuances? Here’s a fact, many Europeans feel they need to change to the American way of business rather than American’s taking time to understand how European’s do business. What does that result in? Resentment…and do you know what resentment leads to? Lack of Trust. The circle closes.
Many of our European clients complain that Americans are short tempered when they interact with them. From the European perspective, they trust American counterparts, consider them equal initially…but soon learn that’s not a normal business protocol.
Trust can be blown at work even if you aren’t the instigator. Ask me, I’ve been there and done that. It’s brutal to know you have let others down if you have a conscious. Making amends by apologizing is the easy part… creating the basis to re-establish trust takes time and consistency. There are no other ways around those two key ingredients.
These days, trust is a critical component that needs to be reconstructed in and out of the workforce. Not knowing who to trust with work challenges or personal information which could hurt you down the road is serious business. In my book, The Big Sister’s Guide to the World of Work: The Inside Guide Every Working Girl Must Know, I dedicate an entire chapter to the topic and I sum it up in three words: trust no one.
Alas, (I know a big word but so appropriate), we have to trust each other to be productive and sell our services or widgets.
Often problems at work are from a lack of trust. Someone is speaking behind your back, stole your idea, doesn’t have your back or hasn’t been upfront about a conversation held last week or yesterday. In my line of work, trust is the reason I’m brought in – and it turns out many times the finger points to operational mismanagement, communication flaws, and an inconsistency of messaging. Once we sort out the issues, the dark clouds lift and change is under way.
Interested in what we do? Trust us so you, staff, other executives and colleagues can make work easier and everyone wins.
Click here to watch (:30 sec) the perspective of Trust from our Dutch colleague, Anne-Barbara Lemmens. The goal for us all is to understand and start trusting each other no matter what cultural background.
Warmly,
Jocelyn and Team
