I heard Stephen M.R. Covey speak about his book The Speed of Trust at the ASAE Annual Meeting in Chicago last summer. It’s taken me forever to get to the book, but I’m starting to review it. Instead of doing one big book review, I’m planning on doing several posts about different points in the book. Today’s is about self-trust and credibility.

Covey breaks trust into five different waves: self, relationship, organization, market, and society (can you see the concentric circles in your head?). The organizing structure is logical, but I like the fact that it starts with self. Trust is typically viewed as an issue with the "other." That is, someone else, out there, is either to be trusted or not. Or we don’t have trust in this culture, or this society.

But it all starts with you. And when he gets into exploring self trust, he starts with the issue of credibility. This should also seem logical to people. And if I asked you, are you a credible person—do you tell the truth—most would say, "of course." But you know it is more complicated than that, because we don’t always speak the truth. In his questionnaire, he asks three questions: are you thoroughly honest in your actions with others; is what you say and do really what you think and feel; and are you clear about your values and courageous in standing up for them. If you are honest with yourself, I bet you fall down a little in all three categories.

So if you want to build trust in your organization, start by moving up the scale on those three questions. Stop telling white lies. Stop spinning the truth. Start saying what you think. Stand up for your values.

If you’re thinking "Yes, but there are times when you can’t just say the whole truth, or where it might backfire if you stand up to starkly for your values." You’re right…AND that is a huge excuse. You know as well as I do that you pass up opportunities to do those things where there is NOT a big trheat of negative consequences. Take some chances. Experiment with this. And notice the impact it has on trust in the larger system. The only person you can actually "make" more trustworthy is yourself.