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Building a Winning Culture: Inspire Trust

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© Franklin Covey Co. and CoveyLink, LLC. All rights reserved. 2 BUILDING A WINNING CULTURE: INSPIRE TRUST communication is nearly impossible, even about the most trivial things. Once we understand the hard-edged, measurable economics of trust, we can see the quantifiable impact everywhere. While these trust taxes don't show up on the income statement, they're still there, disguised as other problems: redundancy, bureaucracy, politics, disengagement, turnover, churn, and fraud. When trust is high, the dividend we receive is a performance multiplier, elevating and improving every dimension of the organization: increased value, accelerated growth, enhanced innovation, improved collaboration, stronger partnering, higher engagement, better execution, and heightened loyalty. In an organization, trust is critical both internally and externally. In fact, given the performance- multiplier effect of high trust, leaders who used to campaign to be the "provider of choice" in their markets should now campaign to become the most trusted provider. Those who make building trust a priority are going to have a strategic advantage. THE JOB USED TO BE… THE JOB THAT YOU MUST DO NOW… To become the provider/employer of choice in your industry To become the most trusted provider/ employer in your industry TRUST STARTS WITH WHO YOU ARE Your personal credibility is the foundation on which all trust is built. Credibility is a function of two things: your character (who you are — your integrity and intent) and your competence (what you can do — your capabilities and results). Competence is visible above the surface, while your character, like the roots of a tree, lies beneath the surface and feeds your success — or your lack of it. If we were doing business with you, and you knew that we had all the right professional qualifications and skills but didn't keep our word, you wouldn't trust us. Our lack of character would prevent you from doing business with us, even though we might be the best at what we do. Conversely, if we were doing business with you, and you knew that we were honest and cared about you, but that we didn't have the right capabilities, were no longer relevant, and didn't have a track record of results, you also wouldn't trust us. Our lack of competence would undermine the trust, even though we might be extremely honest and caring. Drilling a level down on the character and competence dimensions enables you to assess yourself against what Stephen M. R. Covey calls "The 4 Cores of Credibility" — the first two cores belonging to character, and the second two belonging to competence. The first core of credibility is integrity. To use the metaphor of the tree, integrity is the root. It means honesty, truthfulness, and congruence. It means doing the right thing and sticking to your word. The second core of credibility is intent. In our tree metaphor, it's the trunk — part of it is beneath the surface, part of it is above. Intent refers to our motive and agenda. The motive that best builds credibility and trust is when you The motive that best builds credibility and trust is when you care about the people that you're leading — and they know you care about them.

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