A while back I read Stephen Covey’s book “The Speed of Trust”. The foundational premise of the book was that organizations where individuals work together in a trusting relationship have a greater ability to move forward progressively with a greater sense of creativity and entrepreneurialism (and faster). In my higher education career, I’ve had the opportunity to serve institutions where this phenomenon proved true as well as those where trust was lacking that were not able to move forward.
My experience is these trusting relationships form because of institutional leadership – where the leadership team set the tone for how they work together or not. At those institutions where leadership teams work together the effect is that those outside of leadership who witness and experience this phenomenon also work in a trusting manner – helping to move the institution forward. Alternatively, where leadership members do not work in a trusting manner – with greater concern for themselves and their own areas versus the institution as a whole – move at best sideways and often move backwards. Here, the institution suffers from passive aggressive, toxic, or competitive work dynamics that trickle out and adversely impact the overall institutional culture.
I served an institution where the president managed a cabinet such that individuals actively worked together to understand each other’s work styles so they could work more cohesively and collaboratively. These positive working relationships allowed for clear strategic planning and cross-functional work teams that successfully led to institutional mission objective achievement. For example, a student success committee formed pulling individuals together from the academy, student life, enrollment management, information technology, athletics, and other areas leading to the highest first year persistence in the institution’s history.
Conversely, I served an institution where the president actively worked to create competition and adversarial relationships amongst deans so they would not “bother” him. Alternatively, I served institutions where cabinets did not exist resulting in the creation of fiefdoms amongst institutional leaders resulting in hidden agendas and back-office collaborations not in support of institutional objectives. I also experienced leaders who viewed their respective roles as greater or more important than that of the institution, making the creation of positive constructive trusting relationships, where collaborative work could be achieved, impossible. Note in these cases, I use the word “leadership” loosely as I do not feel individuals who work like this are leaders.
From my perspective, working to achieve the institutional mission in higher education is already difficult. Working to solve complex problems with multiple land mines with the numerous challenges in higher education is tricky in and of itself. Adding to that the potential roadblocks associated with a lack of trust makes the task even more difficult, frustrating, and demoralizing.
So…is there a way to develop and ensure trusting relationships with colleagues to ensure a positive dynamic allowing for productive and fulfilling work that drives mission achievement? The optimist in me says, surely yes!
To me, this begins with, as Stephen Covey talks about, “seeking first to understand”. Working to understand another individual’s perspective while showing genuine empathy and care for another individual’s perspective is a great way to level set at the beginning of a relationship. This involves active listening for an individual’s triggers that are clearly important “must haves” for the individual. Adding to this, trusting relationship building involves time and cultivation. Relationship building is an investment. I remember the kids’ book “Fill a Bucket” where the author shares the importance of helping to fill someone’s bucket versus withdrawing. Developing a trusting relationship resulting in positive productive work involves depositing into someone’s bucket with authenticity and sincerity. Many times, a good place to start is on a topic where two individuals can agree on the desired outcome.
Ultimately, building trust in an organization is critical to success; assuming you want to move ahead in working to achieve the institutional mission. It takes persistence. It involves effort. It involves care and development. Our work is hard enough as it is without working in a trusting environment. Taking the time to build trusting relationships just helps make our work and institutional mission achievement all the more fulfilling.