In order to be trusted, one must be trustworthy. This means you and I have to be the kind of person that’s worth trusting.
One thing you can do to get the trust train moving in the right direction is by offering trust toward the other person on the front end.
There is something within human nature that responds positively to positive input. So if someone tells you, “I trust you,” there is something that clicks inside of us that makes us more likely to trust that person. There’s an inner reciprocation. Of course, it works the opposite way as well. Tell someone, “I don’t trust you,” and I’m pretty sure that person will lean toward not trusting you either.
If you are trying to instill a culture of trust within your group or organization, by all means, be a trustworthy person. But you may also want to start trusting others and let them know about it. Your example may be the very thing that sets the tone.
This same phenomenon occurs when you tell someone you believe in them or you depend on them or you need them.
People may not know what trust or belief looks like until you model what it looks like.
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