How to Move Faster in Business: Trust

“The first job of a leader—at work or at home—is to inspire trust. It’s to bring out the best in people by entrusting them with meaningful stewardships, and to create an environment in which high-trust interaction inspires creativity and possibility.” 

- Stephen M.R. Covey, The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing that Changes Everything

Every business today is struggling with how to move faster. We all have to: 

Knowing this, many leaders mistakenly rush their employees, customers and partners, trying to speed up the process. But with people, "fast is slow, and slow is fast." This means that when you want to move quickly, you actually have to slow down and first establish whether you have earned the trust to move fast. 

Here is a super-simple example of the speed of trust: 

A shoe seller needs to make one more sale to feed his family that night. A new customer walks in the door, and he quickly selects a pair of red heels that he knows will look great on her and accomplish his goal of eating that night. But the customer doesn't know the shoe seller, so she takes a long time walking around the store, looking at various different shoes, trying them all on. He brings out pair after pair. Eventually, after an hour of looking, she picks the red heels he originally suggested, pays, and walks out the door.   

This transaction looked like this: 

The next day, he finds himself in the exact same position. This time, though, a regular customer walks in his door. She asks him for his recommendation because she trusts his taste and knowledge. He also already knows her size, so after trying on three options that fit perfectly, she purchased two pairs and left the store ten minutes after she walked in. 

This transaction looked like this: 

The speed of trust applies to every single relationship within your business. So, the next time you want to move faster, take a step back and seek ways to build trust instead. Once the foundation of trust is established, there's no holding you back!

Virginia Ginsburg is founder and chief consultant at Swell Strategies. She is passionate about supporting small business owners and entrepreneurs in starting and running successful enterprises. An avid reader, in this blog she reviews books and articles and relates specific learning points back to entrepreneurial businesses.