Trust isn’t a quality you either have or you don’t; it’s a learnable skill. Teams and organizations that operate with high trust significantly outperform those who do not cultivate trust at the core of their culture.

Developing trust helps team members become energized and engaged. They collaborate more effectively, operate faster, and achieve sustainable results.

Complex organizational problems cannot be solved with the stroke of a pen, a leadership mandate, a training program, restructuring, or changing a system. These things can be helpful, but all grand strategies must eventually break down to real work done by real people.

The Economics of Trust

Trust always affects two outcomes: speed and cost. When trust goes down, speed goes down and cost goes up. When trust goes up, speed goes up and cost goes down. The serious practical impact of the economics of trust is that we are paying a hidden low-trust tax.

A company can have an excellent strategy and a strong ability to execute, but the net result can be torpedoed by a low-trust tax or multiplied by a high-trust dividend. This makes a powerful business case for trust, assuring that it is not a soft, nice-to-have quality.

How Trust Works

Trust is a function of two things: character and competence. Character includes your integrity, your motive, and your intent with people. Competence includes your capabilities, your skills, your results, and your track record.

With the increasing focus on ethics in our society, the character side of trust is fast becoming the price of entry in the new global economy. However, the differentiating and often ignored side of trust—competence—is equally essential.

The Speed of Trust dramatically impacts business outcomes by changing the performance of individuals and teams. This is not a separate initiative; rather, it is about how individuals and teams do their current work. Creating a high-trust, highly engaged culture is the ultimate, long-term competitive advantage.

The participant kit for the Leading at the Speed of Trust course includes the following:

• Participant Guidebook
• Speed of Trust Action Cards
• Weekly Trust Huddle Guide
• Leading at the Speed of Trust® Book
• Speed of Trust Digital Coach app
• tQ 360º Diagnostic