Trust: A variable you can change 11/17/2017

Trust: A variable you can change* Trust must be earned. This is a true statement but there is much more to know about how trust works. Character is the most obvious factor in trust since personal integrity is foundational to establishing trust with anyone. Less obvious is the factor of competence. You may trust a fellow Soldier with your life but that doesn't mean that you would trust them to perform surgery on your brain. Surgery requires expertise and experience; in other words, competence. So we trust our surgeon to operate on our body but that does not mean we would necessarily trust him or her to pilot our next cross country flight (unless they are a flight surgeon). Character and competence are the two halves of the "coin" of trust. If we toss this "coin" of trust into the "fountain" of our environment it "ripples" outward in every direction. The five "waves" of trust are: Self Trust, Relationship Trust, Organizational Trust, Market Trust and Societal Trust (in our context the last two are essentially the same). In this book Covey teaches building trust by ensuring that our perspective, actions and words all work together to create an atmosphere of trust; what he calls see, speak, behave. One of the things I like the most about Covey's book is the emphasis on building trust from the inside out, first yourself, then others. You CAN impact your trust level by taking positive steps. In the weeks ahead we will cover many of those steps. ** Army Leadership Doctrine: We noted last week that ADRP 6-22 6-48 to 6-52 Builds Trust, and table 6-2 (summary of the competency 'Builds Trust') outline trust for Army leaders and the steps to build it. The new FM 3.0 is nested with Army Mission Command and Leadership doctrine, as 1-15 states, "mission command requires mutual trust and shared understanding." These principals are vital throughout the Army, from initial military training through every phase of combat operations. *This is a reflection on chapter 2 of the book "The Speed of Trust" by Steven M.R. Covey and is the basis of the Strong Bonds curriculum The Speed of Trust for Families/Marriages/Soldiers. I highly recommend this book and this training.