It’s All about Trust ◾ 133
thing to talk about actions in terms of sincerity, reli-
ability, or competence. Jennifer was very uncomfortable
saying she didn’t trust James, but she was clearly more
comfortable discussing whether he was sincere when
he made his deadlines and was reliable. That was a
conversation she was able to have.
“By missing deadlines or not delivering on his prom-
ises, James has created a situation where Jennifer no
longer trusts him despite the fact that she likes him. If
you look around the room, I suspect many of you have
similar feelings toward each other or can imagine others
feeling that way about you. Am I right?” Karen asked.
All of the participants, Eliza included, quietly nod-
ded their heads in agreement.
“Eliza,” Karen continued, “you’ve had a chance to
review all of the Trust Tests. Can you tell us how this
group rated the team in terms of trustworthiness?”
Eliza had collected the papers a moment earlier and
had done a quick calculation. “The entire group gave the
combined sales and customer service teams an average
trustworthiness score of 19—which according to the
Trust Test is dened as ‘Rarely Trustworthy,’” she said.
Karen looked around the room, assessing the reac-
tion of the group. “You don’t look surprised by that
score,” she observed. “Why?”
Claire spoke rst. “I guess because we’ve probably
all been a bit lax in our sincerity, reliability, and/or
competence.”
Karen turned to Dave and said, “Dave, you assured
Eliza that you would be here at 7:45 this morning. But
134 ◾ Transforming Teams
you didn’t arrive until 8:25. How could Eliza have inter-
preted that?”
“Well . . . I guess it could leave Eliza with the impres-
sion that I was either insincere about saying I would be
here at 7:45, or that I’m just unreliable when it comes
to making appointments. And, now that you put it out
there, I have to say that I would hate to think that Eliza
views me as untrustworthy. But, yeah, I guess she’d
have every right to view me that way. And Claire, I
guess that’s why you always give me a hard time about
my punctuality. I suppose that could also lead you to
view me as untrustworthy.
“You know, I’m pretty casual and laid-back—it’s kind
of my way of being,” he continued. “I don’t worry too
much about deadlines and punctuality. I guess I never
viewed my actions in terms of trustworthiness or in
terms of being sincere or reliable or competent. When
you put it that way, probably most of the people in this
room would rank me as not very trustworthy. That’s
pretty upsetting to think about.”
Karen stopped him. “Dave, I’m picking on you not
because you are extraordinarily untrustworthy, but
because you gave me the perfect example when you
came in late today. We could examine the trustworthi-
ness of the others who showed up late or who didn’t
ll out the Trust Test. My point is that when we don’t
speak our minds, when we are unreliable or we offer
to do things that we’re not competent to do, we risk
breaking trust.”
“Dave, one last question. How did you score on your
own trustworthiness on the Trust Test?”
It’s All about Trust ◾ 135
“Pretty low. I scored a 47, which is ‘Somewhat
Trustworthy.’ Which at the time I thought was wrong but
now I suspect is probably correct,” he said dejectedly.
“Don’t worry, Dave. We’re just getting started. Like
the Marine Corps drill sergeant, I have to break you
down rst in order to build you up. And I am going to
give each of you the tools to improve your own trust-
worthiness so that you can be open and honest with
each other about managing and keeping your promises.
Here’s the good news—you can restore trust!” Karen
said with emphasis. “You can x it! And if you want to
improve the trust around you, it starts and ends with
you. You have to set the example.”
Dave turned to Eliza and said, “Isn’t that one of your
golden nuggets—that you have to be the change you
seek?”
Karen said, “Ooh, I like that,” and turned and wrote
it on the ip chart:
Be the change you seek!
“Now take a break. And when you come back, we’ll
talk about how to do that!”
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