Trust

Definition

In the widely cited model by Roger Mayer, James Davis and David Schoorman (1995), trust is the willingness to be vulnerable to the actions of another party based on the expectation that the other will perform an action important to the trustor, irrespective of the ability to monitor or control them. Whether we trust someone depends on three perceived characteristics:

Trust in a team

• Patrick Lencioni considers absence of trust the fundamental team dysfunction on which the others rest. He means above all vulnerability-based trust - readiness to admit weaknesses and mistakes (see the five dysfunctions of a team).
• Amy Edmondson describes the related phenomenon of psychological safety.
• Stephen M. R. Covey (The Speed of Trust, 2006) argues that trust has an economic dimension: where it is lacking, everything takes longer and costs more (controls, procedures, suspicion).

How a leader builds trust

• keeps their word, even in small things (integrity);
• is predictable and fair;
• shares information (transparency);
• admits mistakes and limits (humility);
• shows trust in others - delegates and does not over-control;
• defends people in their absence and does not speak ill of them.

Rebuilding trust

Trust is lost quickly - through a lie, an abuse, a breach of confidence. Rebuilding it requires acknowledging the harm, apologising, making amends and time in which words are confirmed by deeds. The White Book preamble names weakened trust as one of today's challenges for communities; its provisions (transparency, review of service, mentoring, relationship with the superior) are largely tools for rebuilding it.

A biblical perspective

Scripture presents trust as the fruit of faithfulness: “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much” (Luke 16:10). The ultimate ground of trust among Christians is God's faithfulness, and a community whose leaders are credible becomes a sign of that faithfulness.