PRINCIPLES in BUSINESS: understanding the principles that shape exceptional organisations
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If you have ever been part of a group in which every individual could be totally relied upon to do what they say... if you could depend absolutely on the collective 'promise' - then you have been in a high-trust environment...
In The Software Development Edge, author Joe Marasco states that 'high-trust environments [HTEs] are extremely efficient and effective' and describes the qualities evident in high-trust environments as:
Intuitively, we see the efficient and effective potential to HTEs. HTEs are the lubricant within teams and partnerships of any sort, including personal partnerships - the equivalent of reducing friction in a machine, in that more of the energy goes to producing work (good stuff) and less to producing heat (bad stuff). Marasco adds that 'In general, it is easier to have high trust in small, relatively homogeneous groups. As teams get larger, more dispersed, and more diverse, it becomes harder to maintain a high-trust environment.'
Contained in Marasco's list of qualities is undoubted evidence of high-trust environments.
However, once we view the list in a broader context, we see that those
qualities are symptoms, not causes. You cannot induce 'trust'
where there is not the frame of mind to create it. Thus, it is our contention that
people experience intellectual honesty only through state of mind...
and then only when it is clear and uncontaminated by tightly held judgements, views, opinions
etc. In this way, they are more likely to follow
through with commitments, focus on the common good - and trust others will do the same.
STATE OF MIND is the key to
high-trust engagement.
It makes sense that a clear, uncluttered, non-judgmental and open mind
is functioning at peak: the natural
commonsense and sound judgement we possess before we get into the
maze and complexity [and the trap] of all we assume as true. At this
self-aware peak, there is nothing we cannot discuss, and the size of the group
is irrelevant.
The critical factor is self-awareness: knowing that we think.
This deceptively simple self-knowledge allows us to make the connection between what we are thinking and
how we feel, at any given moment. We are thus more conscious of our state of mind, better able to see our capacity
to create thoughts, and better able to discern whether they are serving us well, or distracting us from
the main game. We are high-trust individuals.
Conversely, if we are unable or unwilling to see that we think - see that we have the capacity to
create 'our truth';
we are trapped. We may be able to recognise the distrust or suspicion present, but
we are fatally trapped in our own game [our own 'truth'] and unable to suspend what we are thinking.
We are insecure, reactive, complicit, low-trust individuals: unable to see
the part we play and importantly, unable to change the status quo.
Ah, but what happens when high-trust individuals enter low-trust environments?
We know that high-trust individuals have commonsense and sound judgement to guide them - a direct result of their secure state of mind. They are aware and awake to insecure and reactive behaviour. Hence, they are more able to stay open and responsive to insecure and reactive colleagues. These individuals are focused on maintaining healthy relationships to secure the aim - not their personal agenda, but the common goals of the organisation. They trust in the healthier capacities of other people, even when that healthy capacity is not in evidence.
© David Bodman 2007. Permission to copy for personal use is granted. For other publication rights, please contact the author.