right for the approval and acceptance of any person or group. It means not engaging in unethical manipulation of others to do what’s morally, legally, and humanely wrong. It’s knowing that no right thing can come from wrong thinking.
Mark
Young Mark came from a good family. Trust was highly valued and Mark took pride in always trying to be honest. “Mark, Sr. loved his son and always impressed upon him to do the right and honorable thing regardless of the temptation. He would always say: “Son, your reputation and integrity are your most precious assets.”
Today Mark would be tested. He could hear those words ringing in his ears as he stood facing the time clock. His own timecard in his left hand and Jason’s in the right. Jason, a good friend and coworker, asked him to clock-in on his behalf. Jason was late. He knew this was dishonest and against company policy. Conflicted, angry, and confused, he was torn between right and wrong. Jason was his friend and he was tempted to do it. What would happen if he got caught? Would he lose his job? He despised these feelings and decided to put Jason’s card back in its slot. “My reputation is all I have” he thought. “I like Jason but I’m not prepared to compromise my honesty.”
When we are both trustworthy, we help each other achieve our highest potential, resulting in zones of inspiration and profitable work environments!
The Enemies of Trust
In Buddhism, one of the core doctrines is titled The Three Poisons. These are greed, hatred, and delusion. Besides the negative karmic effect of these three poisons, they also form the basis for a lack of trust and are the roots of dishonest thoughts. Greed of any sort, even greed of knowledge, diminishes your authenticity. You become unbalanced. Hatred brings about vengeful thoughts, which in turn lead to duality and dishonesty. Delusion, within itself, cannot be trusted. Many of our fears and paranoia stem from over active imaginations.
The way to be trusted and to trust others is to follow the Golden Rule: “In everything, do unto others as you would have them do unto you; for this is the law of the prophets.” –Jesus of Nazareth.
False fronts and facades produce insincere energy transference. What we think affects how we feel, which plays out in our body language and nonverbal communication.
If someone is untrustworthy, their next consideration is power and control over others. If an untrustworthy person has power, the collapse of an organization is inevitable and employees, investors, and even industries get hurt.
The FBI continually conducts investigations into corporate fraud matters. The 2008 sub-prime lending crisis devastated individuals and companies and put the world economy into a tail spin. History has demonstrated that a workplace that is secretive and duplicitous can teach people to become untrustworthy; but if character is taught in childhood, it remains the same across most situations. Being trustworthy is demonstrated in one’s behavior and actions. It is a state of one’s character, and in the workplace character and trusting relationships are essential ingredients for long-term success.
If you hire for character and train for skills, you’ll have a good chance of establishing a workplace filled with trustworthy people.
In the final analysis, trust is the most valuable asset we have. It is having the courage and inner strength to stay away from being deceitful, cheating, stealing, betraying, and speaking with a forked tongue. It is having an inner resolve that is based on respect and love for ourselves and others. Our behavior is the end result of what we believe to be the truth. If our truth is that we respect another person’s property and life, we will not abuse, use, break, or consider taking them.
Hire for character and train for skills!
Building Trust
Courage of His Convictions
Abe Lincoln gave the greatest speech of his famous senatorial campaign at Springfield, Illinois. The convention before which he spoke consisted of a thousand delegates together with the crowd that had gathered with them.
His speech was carefully prepared. Every sentence was guarded and emphatic. It has since become famous as “The Divided House” speech.
Before entering the hall where it was to be delivered, he stepped into the office of his law-partner, Mr. Herndon, and, locking the door, so that their interview might be private, took his manuscript from his pocket, and read one of the opening sentences: “I believe this government cannot endure permanently, half slave and half free.”
Mr. Herndon remarked that the sentiment was true, but suggested that it might not be good policy to utter it at that time.
Mr. Lincoln replied with great firmness: “No matter about the policy. It is true, and the nation is entitled to it. The proposition has been true for six thousand years, and I will deliver it as it is written.”
-Good Stories for Great Holidays
TEAMWORK: Teamwork is the secret to success. When we treat each other as internal customers with dignity, respect, and efficiency, we create a culture of cooperative high-performance, which ripples out to the external customer.
RESPONSIBILITY: Take 100% responsibility for your role in the team; be highly competent, reliable, objective, and accountable. Good team players don’t blame others and when they’re wrong, they admit it quickly and learn from it.
UNDERSTANDING: Understand the differences in others; build bridges of cooperation, respect, and trust. Prejudice has no place in teamwork. We are uniquely different—races, religions, cultures, genders, beliefs, and abilities.
SEEK SYNERGY: Look for ways to work more harmoniously with your team to multiply efficiency and service to the customer. Synergy is all about creatively seeking ways that will multiply the quality of workmanship, relationships, and the excited feeling of achieving the extraordinary; that means that everyone on the team learns to play from the same sheet of music, secure within themselves and their own individual talent to contribute with no fear of loss.
TALK IT OUT: Honest relationships are vital to team success. An effective way to build trust and honest relationships is to deal with conflict immediately in an objective, constructive, and candid manner. The key is to avoid ego defensive comparisons. It is not “who” is right, but “what” is right. Focus on solving the problem, not each other.
A Credo for Relationships
I choose to trust myself, others, and life.
I choose to be authentic.
I choose to communicate in truth.
I choose to help not hurt.
I choose knowledge over ignorance.
I choose to listen more and talk less.
I choose peace over aggression.
I choose to respect and be respected.
I choose to give, rather than take.
I choose humbleness over arrogance.
I choose optimism over cynicism.