Mapping the trust genome (revised 1.28.07)
My colleagues and I have been doing a lot of work on trust in organizations, which turns out to be a fairly complex endeavor because of the intangibility of trust and its profound impact on things like speed, creativity, and alignment. In a process that feels like mapping the human genome, my mapping of trust has lead to the following 15 distinctions that I expect will morph given more time and martinis.
1 Appreciative trust - I trust you because you know and engage my strengths and passions
2 Earned trust - I trust you because you make and keep promises that matter to me
3 Regard trust - I trust you because you treat me with courtesy & respect
4 Reciprocal trust - I trust you because you trust me
5 Selective trust - I trust you for specific things in specific situations
6 Trackrecord trust - I trust you because I’ve heard of your achievements
7 Expert trust - I trust you because of your expert knowledge/skill
8 Intentional trust - I trust you to give you an opportunity to demonstrate trustworthiness
9 Intuitive trust - I trust you because I have a sense you have a good heart/intention
10 Character trust - I trust you because I’m basically a trusting person (don’t take it personally)
11 Similarity trust - I trust you because we share common qualities, values
12 Associative trust - I trust you because someone I trust trusts you
13 Expedient trust - I trust you because I don’t have the time to do otherwise
14 Crisis trust - I trust you because I have to, given the dire situation
15 Object trust - I trust you because you can be controlled
January 28th, 2007 17:44
Jack, this is a very interesting categorical spread. The first 5 really pertain to the individual doing the trusting, and reflect the individual’s trait or potential for expressing trust (genotypic as metaphor). The remaining 5 pertain to the actions of another and speak to an individual’s ability to recognize patterns of trustworthy behaviors…the manifestation of trust in context (phenotypic as metaphor). It would be interesting to explore the relationship between an individual’s level of readiness to change in an organization and the kinds of trust the individual expreiences with: a) the person most proximal to implementing the change; and/versus b) the person most distal to implemenation but making the decision for change (usually an admninistrator). I am at the office on Sunday afternoon…must be time for an appletini!