Knowing how to build and maintain trust has been the best career catalyst for me. I managed to navigate two acquisitions and grow from a Junior Engineer role to an Engineering Director in under a decade. It was a journey of accelerated growth with a lot of challenges.
Let’s first see why trust is such an important element in our society.
Why is trust so important?
Thousands of years ago, if somebody new were joining a tribe, two things would have mattered the most:
- If they were competent — good hunters for that time, able to provide for people in the tribe
- If they were trustworthy — they would not run away with the tribe’s food and/or kill everybody in their sleep.
The same is valid today. Whenever somebody joins a new environment, the question on everyone’s subconscious mind is the same:
Is that person competent and trustworthy?
While most people focus on improving competency, trustworthiness is essential.