In a culture of trust, transparent communication forms a foundation for building relationships. A sense of safety and a comfort level with interpersonal interaction pervades a worklace that has developed a culture of trust.
The most frequent interaction I hear about trust is the desire and the need to rebuild trust in an organization once trust has been damaged. Hundreds of small actions every day build a culture of trust. Let's look at how to define trust before we explore how to build trust or how to rebuild trust when trust is damaged.
Define Trust Within a Culture of Trust
You know when you are in an environment of trust and you know when you are not. But, only by defining trust in a way that is tangible can you describe what employees experience when they speak of trust.
According to Dr. Duane C. Tway, Jr. in his 1993 dissertation, A Construct of Trust, trust is, "the state of readiness for unguarded interaction with someone or something." He developed a model of trust that includes three components. He calls trust a construct because it is "constructed" of these three components: "the capacity for trusting, the perception of competence, and the perception of intentions."
Thinking about trust as made up of the interaction and existence of these three components makes trust easier to understand. See the components that exist within a culture of trust.
In a culture of trust employees are likely to exhibit a positive relationship with all three components and to hold positive expectations about their coworkers and their actions.
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