Trust in business relationships is not a “nice-to-have” condition.
Trust is a force multiplier, with powerful economic effects.
Trust effects cost and speed: response time, speed of sharing information, speed of decision-making, speed of project completion, speed of new product introduction.

Time is the ultimate nonrenewable resource. If trust is squandered, precious time is forever lost. We have all seen projects or businesses fail due to cost overruns or schedule failures. Failure rates for product releases, strategic projects, and process improvement initiatives are estimated to range between 72% and 91%. Those are absolutely appalling failure rates.

Deliberately enhancing and harnessing trust can have immediate and long-lasting financial benefits.

Myth: either you have trust or you don’t.
Truth: creating trust is a competency that can be learned, and trust can be earned or destroyed.

Here are some behaviors that enhance trust:

• Listen to your colleagues before acting
• Communicate clearly and be upfront about your intentions
• Make expectations explicit, and clarify priorities
• Behave in a respectful manner
• Acknowledge the current situation, whether it is positive or negative
• Practice justice – make things right
• Demonstrate your understanding of the value that others provide – give credit
• Define desired results, and wherever possible, provide verifiable results
• Understand your commitments, and keep them
• Make a practice of building trust by extending it to others

“The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.” ― Ernest Hemingway