Whilst watching Dragons Den recently, I was reminded that in July I wrote about the power of Trust in business relationships. The Dragons were in one of their quests to get to the story behind the person to determine the degree to which they could trust the business being pitched and, as usual, the hapless victim was harassed into revealing more about themselves than they might have thought wise on national television.

Re-reading my posting on trust, I felt that I could usefully cover some more detail on one of the cornerstones of being trusted – our ability to demonstrate that we are trustworthy. A great deal has been written on this subject – there is a reference to Stephen M.R. Covey’s book at the end of the post – just one among many.

Integrity

/integriti/

Noun

1. The quality of being honest and morally upright.

2. The state of being whole or unified.

3. Soundness of construction.

ORIGIN Latin integritas, from integer ‘intact, whole’.

Source: Compact Oxford English Dictionary

Simple Steps to Consider

1. Make sure that your terms and conditions of business are unambiguous.

2. Make sure you have products and services to be proud of.

3. Test agreement to decisions and courses of action whilst things are still fresh in peoples’ minds.

4. Be open in your discussions – no hidden agendas.

5. Be the one to draw others attention to deficiencies.

6. Question your own motives first, before you question those of others.

7. Keep good quality records so that it is easy to be accurate and consistent in your dealings with others.

8. Treat all the people and businesses you deal with as you would want to be treated.

   1. Pay on time;

   2. No hidden extras;

   3. Put people and customer satisfaction first – the profit will follow (the old Performance Follows Practice mantra);

   4. Bad news must be declared.

Heroes

As an aside, writing this reminded me of one of my heroes. Stirling Moss was adamant that the way in which the battle was fought was as important as the outcome. This attitude cost him the 1958 World Championship but is probably one of the reasons he remains a popular figure today having made a career for the last 40+ years out of being Stirling Moss. When rival Mike Hawthorn was threatened with a penalty in Portugal, Moss defended Hawthorn’s actions. Hawthorn was accused of reversing in the track after spinning his car. Hawthorn went on to beat Moss by one point.

Further reading:

Stephen M.R. Covey with Rebecca R. Merrill, The Speed of Trust, Simon & Schuster, ISBN-10: 0-7432-9560-9

This was a guest post by Paul Fileman of SPS who are a national team of proven senior management professionals, passionate about working to help businesses achieve their next level of development and performance. Whether they are facing market changes, financial problems, people/skills issues, or are preparing a major project, they offer dedicated support from a multi-disciplined team of experts.

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