“Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient…” said Stephen Covey. The same is the words of John Maxwell in his speech related to earning trust.
Trust is the foundation of leadership, and it needs not only in leadership but in almost every relation and matter of life. But do you ever think, how you could build trust and earn respect from people concerned and your followers? To answer this, Maxwell asserts:
“… to build trust, a leader must exhibit competence, connection, and character.”
And you know the best compliment one ever listens is when the follower says they count on you, depend on you, and believe you. The essential thing here is that no one is born with people’s trust; rather, everyone has to earn it, struggle or work for it, and it takes a lot of effort and time.
But why would you need to struggle for it?
Trust is the foundation of all good relationships. You show me a good relationship, and I will show you a relationship built on trust. Just like you showed me a relationship that’s falling apart, and I’ll guarantee you it’s losing trust…
And this balance has the potential to get bigger or the potential to get smaller. So how can you manage it? How can you expand it? And how can you be more trustworthy?
John Maxwell offers two solutions:
1- Words and actions must be the same
There is a famous quote by Chris Butler:
“Trust is earned when actions meet words.”
This is a reality, and you have to focus on it. Because if your actions don’t align with your professed words, your followers will start to doubt your words, and with time, when they don’t see any progress, then you’ll lose their trust too. Nothing throws the people a curve than to have somebody say one thing and do something entirely different.
So do what you say. And when your actions underscore and are the foundation to your words and align together, you can quickly build your trustworthy account. Give trust to gain trust, empower them, believe in them, and listen and help them. You’ll definitely succeed.
2- Try to do the best and best for people continually
The second thing you can do to earn people’s trust is to lead them with a sincere desire for help. As the law of connection demonstrates, “true leaders touch a heart before they ask for a hand.”
This is about motives, your attitude towards your followers, and your value. If you value them, they’ll do everything for you.
When people give trust to some other individual, they simply mean that you respect them and that your words and actions are aligned. And, when you do it regularly over time, just like an investment made in interest, it just starts to accumulate and gradually become better and better. Isn’t it fascinating that the bigger it gets, the stronger it gets and the more it expands?
As Maxwell says: “I always tell people if you think being trustworthy is good on the front end it’s amazing on the back end because now you have had a life that is proven out that trustworthiness.”
Start aligning your actions with your words today and earn not only their trust but also their love and interest.