Leadership

The Cycle of Trust

by | May 3, 2017 | Leadership

In one of my original newsletters I talked about why it is so important to build trust if you want to be a leader – i.e. a person of significant influence. In the newsletter I made reference to a concept I learned years ago called the Cycle of Trust.

Courtesy of Workspace Creative

CYCLE OF TRUST

The Cycle of Trust is a simple, but powerful concept. Basically, it states that we tend to trust people we perceive trust us and tend not to trust people we perceive do not trust us.

Part of the concept rests on the fact that we tend to communicate our trust (or lack of it) in many non-verbal and subconscious ways that other people pick up on. So, even if we try to hide it,

When we give off “vibes” that we don’t trust someone, they are able to pick up on that and it creates a sense of mistrust toward us…and the cycle goes on.
Joe Denner

On the surface it seems almost too simple. When I first learned about it during some management training I was skeptical, so I decided to experiment with it.

 

ENDING THE UNHEALTHY CYCLE

At the time of first encountering this concept, there was another manager that I didn’t trust at all… not at all. And, I was pretty sure they didn’t trust me either.

I began to intentionally work on trusting this manager. I made specific efforts to give them the benefit of the doubt in situations where the facts weren’t clear and gave them outward support that I hadn’t previously. Slowly, I noticed my attitude toward them changing for the better. I really began to believe in and trust them more readily.

Surprisingly, I began to notice their attitude changing toward me. Long story short, our relationship was radically affected. We became friends and worked very well together for years.

 

SOME QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
  • Who can you apply the dynamics of the cycle of trust with?
  • When will you start?

If you do your part, you will be amazed at what can happen.

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