Building Trust

trust

You can’t have success in ministry without trust. The word trust embodies almost everything you can strive for that will help you to succeed in building up the body of Christ and transforming a community for Christ.

In a high-trust relationship, you can say the wrong thing, and people will still get your meaning. In a low-trust relationship, you can be very measured, even precise, and they’ll still misinterpret you.

The truth is that in every relationship—personal and professional—what you do has far greater impact than anything you say. Trust is built into relationships through behaving in trusting ways.  You must make deposits in each other’s Trust Account.  Everyone has an account that you can either make deposits or withdrawals.

Trust is something you can do something about — and probably much faster than you think!

How do you build trust in relationships?  It is a process that requires a variety of behaviors and responses. When sharing with those I coach, I often present the process in this simple acrostic taken from Kevin McCarthy.

T – Truth: can you both be honest in the relationship?

R – Respect: do you respect each other?

U – Understanding: do you truly understand each other’s situation and motivations?

S – Sincerity: do you really care about each other?

T – Time: have you spent sufficient time to build the relationship?

Want to read more about trust? Check out The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing that Changes Everything  by Stephen M.R. Covey.

Dave_SizedPost contributed by Dave Vogelpohl, HGC Coaching Catalyst and Organizational leader.