The Trust Equation in High Performing Teams

Mandy Hickson

25 years: Ex-RAF pilot & leadership expert

Mandy delves into the essence of trust and why it is integral to a successful team. By breaking down the ‘Trust Equation’ into points, Mandy illustrates how each of them contribute to high performance and a highly functioning team that can execute effectively.

Sustainable Leadership

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The Trust Equation in High Performing Teams

9 mins 57 secs

Key learning objectives:

Describe the trust equation
Understand what each term means
Understand why "the people" in teams are so important

Overview:

There are huge benefits of being part of a highly performing team, some of us may even have had the pleasure of being part of one. Mandy explains how she finally understood the full implications of this as she was nearing the end of my fast jet training, flying the Hawk aircraft from RAF Valley in Anglesey.

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Summary

What is the trust equation?

David Maister explains the trust equation in his book, ‘The Trusted Advisor’ (2000).

$ Trust = {Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy \over Self‑orientation} $

What do each of the terms mean?

Credibility - has to do with the words we speak. In a sentence, we might say, “I can trust what she says about intellectual property; she’s very credible on the subject.”
Reliability - has to do with actions. We might say, “If he says he’ll deliver the product tomorrow, I trust him, because he’s dependable.”
Intimacy - refers to the safety or security that we feel when entrusting someone with something. We might say, “I can trust her with that information; she’s never violated my confidentiality before, and she would never embarrass me.” It’s also about the empathy someone has, understanding what is going on in someone else's life.
Self-Orientation - refers to the person’s focus. In particular, whether the person’s focus is primarily on him or herself, or on the other person. We might say, “I can’t trust him on this deal — I don’t think he cares enough about me, he’s focused on what he gets out of it.” Or more commonly, “I don’t trust him — I think he’s too concerned about how he’s appearing, so he’s not paying real attention.”

Why are “the people” in teams so important?

The Trust Equation covers the most common meanings of trust that you encounter in everyday business interactions. What’s important to remember is that the meanings are almost entirely personal, not institutional. People rarely give over their trust to institutions; really they trust other people. While companies are often described as credible and reliable (the first two components of The Trust Equation), it’s really the people within the companies that make those companies what they are. And intimacy and self-orientation are almost entirely about people. Trust in business and selling requires good “scores” on all four variables in the Trust Equation. You want high credibility, reliability and intimacy, and low self-orientation. Living the four Trust Values is the best way to increase your trustworthiness. When others around you go the extra mile when there is nothing to gain, then the trust builds and the performance goes through the roof. There’s a reason the TEAM is spelled like this - it's because together everyone achieves more.

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Mandy Hickson

Mandy Hickson was one of the first female fighter pilots in the Royal Air Force having joined in 1994. Mandy has over 25 years experience within aviation, operating in hostile environments, including patrolling the ‘No Fly’ zone, flying over 50 combat missions over Iraq. Drawing on her experience of calculated risk-taking, leadership, decision-making under pressure and the critical role of the human in the system, Mandy now transfers these lessons from the cockpit to many other management and leadership contexts.

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