Trust me, I got you.

Building Trust: 5 Steps to Nurturing Relationships for Great Work

Trust is a fundamental aspect of any relationship, whether personal or professional. Building trust is not easy, and it can be challenging to take the necessary risks and be vulnerable. To help you understand how to build trust, I have put together five steps to follow.

Trust me, they work. ← see what I did there?

Recently, I produced a Friday Questions video in this human community about trust. To do the HUGE topic justice, I did some research to refresh my perspective on what trust really is and how to nurture it. This article shares the elements that I believe help nurture trust within relationships that enable great work to happen.

As you would know by now, I only write about things I have directly experienced, so I know from my direct experience that these actions build trusting relationships.

TRUST: Choosing to risk making something you value vulnerable to another person’s actions. —Charles Feltman

Trust doesn’t come easily to everyone. It is so dependent on your own personal experience with trusting people and being trustworthy as a person. The challenge with trust is that it feels risky to some. Like the quote above, it requires vulnerability and with vulnerability there is always risk.

So how to we intentionally create trust?

Five steps to building trust

Step 1: Be consistent

“I said what I meant and I meant what I said.” Horton the Elephant, Dr Seuss

Step 2: Tell the truth

This seems to be an obvious one, but also not often the pathway chosen. Telling the truth can feel really inconvenient sometimes, but in my opinion, it is the only way to go. Telling the truth actually makes it easier for you to deliver on Step 1, consistency.

And remember, it is easier to tell ‘your’ truth, so authenticity helps you with Step 2.

Step 3: Have clear boundaries

Step 4: Communicate clearly

Communicating clearly (and often) about what’s happening with your work, being transparent about decisions you’re making, what’s on your mind, what you’re pleased about, and what you’re not happy with helps people you work with know where you (and so they) stand.

To be able to communicate clearly about where you are at requires a very important prerequisite: self-knowledge. This doesn’t just come naturally; we are not born knowing who we are. Self-knowledge requires discipline, reflection, and some excavation. It is not a navel-gazing exercise; it is critical work for success in this world. You must know who you are to establish clear boundaries.

Step 5: Show vulnerability

While on the topic of ‘professionalism’, we become socialised into norms and behaviours which are unique across different organisations we work within and for. Sometime these norms get in the way of our own authentic expression of our work, or the way we work.

It’s better to say “I don’t know” when you don’t. You don’t have to have all the answers all the time. Sharing when you don’t know something builds credibility. People know when you don’t know something anyway, so just be honest (back to step 2).

At the end of the day, people trust those they can rely on.