Inventing Elephants

What might have happened if the blind men in the parable had trusted each other?

When the first one said that an elephant is like a fan and the next one said that an elephant is like a tree they began fighting over which one was correct. What if they had trusted that the other was describing what they saw as best as they could and looked for another reason for the differences between them?

Maybe they would have begun to understand instead of just react.

Integrating multiple perspectives and implementing solutions that might not show immediate positive effects requires a certain level of trust. But the situation doesn't need to be messy for trust to be a factor. This month I am hosting Charles Green's Carnival of Trust, a collection of posts related to ways that trust is important in business and other aspects of life.

I've heard many times that long-term sales are based on having good relationships, so it's nice to see the Accelerate Sales blog describe three specific dimensions on which to evaluate those relationships. I'm not in a sales position, but these are also good tips for evaluating your overall personal network.

Trust is earned by actions, not by a simple claim of expertise, a topic that Kari Dunn Saratovsky referred to in Trust Me, I'm a Social Media Expert ... and Other Red Flags. I'd read the Top 25 Ways post that she builds on back in December when it was originally published and both the terminology and attitude difference she brings up are worthwhile.

A specific way to build trust - and show proof of expertise - is to give away something really good for free. Raj Setty expands on the concept with a numbered list of business reasons to do so. Some reasons are about relationships as much as business. I know this approach has worked on me in a couple of different areas. I valued what I was given and it convinced me to purchase, trusting that the paid material would be even better.

Trust, Listening, and Doing Something With It are all connected according to Valeria Maltoni. She touches on a number of topics and ends her post with ways to build connected outposts throughout your company's functions so as to build trust.

The SMBZen Business Journal also has suggestions on ways to Build Organizational Trust.

I've been seeing some of these principles in action as the managers and business teams in the company I work for make deliberate, and successful, efforts to increase communication in these uncertain times. It makes a difference to me, even when the news isn't always good, and others I work for have said the same. These principles could also be applied where your organization, or one-person business, connects to suppliers and customers.

Eventually we'll be able to have a carnival that doesn't mention Bernard Madoff, but this isn't it, as additional smaller operators continue to be discovered. Today's offering is The Victim of Fraud: Trust by Michael Connor which is notable because it describes how Madoff did everything right in building relationships and trust.

On a more positive note, opening up in a tense political situation served one teacher well. Brad Luo uses her story as an example in discussing the need to start with mutual trust when building business relationships in China.

I was struck by the different perspective on trust offered by John Alanis in a post entitled Are Trustworthiness and Integrity Bogus Concepts? He prefers predictability. That way you don't have to consider rightness or wrongness but whether someone will behave as expected. He has a good point, and it's worth thinking about, but in my opinion it leaves out part of what is important about trust.

The author of Accountability and Trust zeroes right in on what's missing when he mentions a willingness to reveal your true heart to someone. But this emotional aspect of trust is only one part of a discussion of accountability and integrity. He relates it to friendship and the concepts are relevant to any sort of partnership where you need to trust the other person to carry through.

As a finishing note, I loved Liz Strauss's story about how she met one of her business partners in Speed, Trust, and the ROI of Relationships, partly because it shows one way that I, and likely we, hope that trust and internet tools are supposed to work.

I hope you enjoyed this Carnival. The submission deadline for the March edition is April 2. Click here to suggest a post.