19 Practices That Build Trust

1. Say what you mean and mean what you say.
2. Make decisions based on core values and principles rather than expediency or short term fixes which do not ensure.
3. Treat all people with courtesy, sincerity and respect, regardless of their status.
4. Care about people, their well-being and be empathetic regardless of context.
5. Avoid using people as instruments or stepping-stones for self-advancement.
6. Be prepared to be vulnerable, willing to admit your own limitations and mistakes.
7. Be accountable and assume responsibility for your decisions and actions. Be more concerned about your own accountability than your “rights.”
8. Admit to and apologise for your mistakes.
9. Be courageous – confront and take corrective actions when there is a problem.
10. Under-promise and over-deliver.
11. Always follow through on your promises, no matter how insignificant.
12. Always clarify and qualify your promises to make sure that you don’t set up unrealistic or erroneous expectations.
13. Take great care to maintain and nurture working relationships.
14. Exercise self-control, and remember that an unkind word spoken in anger can cause irreparable damage to a relationship.
15. Whenever a misunderstanding occurs, clear it up as soon as possible.
16. Give honest but constructive feedback.
17. Trust people first until they prove themselves untrustworthy.
18. Communicate openly and honestly, and explain your decisions.
19. Earn people’s trust by building a reputation for being competent and trustworthy.

Source: Schuman, S 2006, “Creating a Culture of Collaboration”, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA

The willingness of a party to be vulnerable to the actions of another party based on the expectation that the other will perform a particular action important to the trustor, irrespective of the ability to monitor or control that other party (Mayer et al., 1995).

Source: Roger C. Mayer, James H. Davis, F. David Schoorman, The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 20, No. 3 (Jul., 1995), pp. 712