Counterforces of the Pillars of Trust
So, we have a problem.
There are counterforces to each of the pillars of trust, these forces that are working against the strengthening of each pillar in an organization. Here are a few of them just to get you thinking about possible counterforces in your team or your organization.
Counterforces of the Pillars
- Clarity. People trust the clear, and they mistrust or distrust the ambiguous. Ambiguity is a counterforce to trust, but so is complexity. Whenever we see an organization that overcomplexifies beyond what is needed, we know they might be losing clarity, which is losing trust.
- Compassion. We trust those that care beyond themselves, have intent beyond themselves. What are some of the counterforces? Well, outright cruelty is certainly a counterforce to compassion as a pillar, but the more common one in organizations that we see? Ambivalence; if we see people ambivalent to others, not really caring, that is a strong counterforce to compassion.
- Character. If we see dishonesty or fudging or a creep against integrity, we know we’ve found a counterforce for character.
- Competency. What’s a counterforce to staying fresh and relevant and capable? Well, unwillingness to learn is one, but one you might wanna look for is arrogance. When we see people that think they know it all, we see a counterforce to competence, because they’re probably not staying fresh and relevant and capable.
- Commitment. We trust those that stay committed in the face of adversity. A couple of counterforces to commitment are just unfaithfulness or disengagement.
- Connection. We know we trust those that are willing to connect and collaborate. If I look inside of a company and I see a lot of silos or a lot of selfishness, I know I’ve found counterforces to connection.
- Contribution. This is that pillar that speaks to results. We trust those that contribute results. What are some counterforces to results? Well, laziness is one of them, but so is just a lack of organization or a lack of focus. When people aren’t getting the most important things done, we know we’ve got a counterforce to contribution.
- Consistency. Some of the counterforces to consistency are carelessness. People just don’t care enough to do it right or make it the same. Another counterforce might be people being overstretched, so they just can’t keep up with the system or can’t worry enough about making it the same.
So these thoughts were just to get you started on seeing that there are counterforces to each of the great pillars of trust. Maybe you can think of some you can see in your organization or organizations where you’ve worked.
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