What does it mean to be trustworthy?
Obsessing about trust can get us into deep water. Instead, leaders should focus on designing organisational features that demonstrate trustworthiness. Here's an easy way to get started with just that.
In the previous post we established that:
It might be helpful for you to think of trust as the “belief in another’s trustworthiness”.
This belief about another’s trustworthiness is the result of a mental process that’s influenced by many different factors.
You cannot control trust states (in effect, how much or how little someone trust you). Instead you should focus on what it means to be trustworthy, then design for that.
So what does it mean to be trustworthy?
Commonly we may think of “the ability to be relied upon as honest or truthful”, but that does little to clarify what we should actually do. Definitions like this lack the specificity we require to act with reasonable confidence.
To replace common notions, my suggestion - again, in the context of organisational design - is that you consider trustworthiness the “capacity an organisation has to consistently demonstrate intent, integrity, respect, fairness, openness, inclusion and competence.”
Although different models for trustworthiness exist (most proposing far less than 7 qualities or drivers, with integrity, benevolent intent and competence/ability being the three most common), I have gravitated towards Sutcliffe et al. since they published TIGTech back in 2020 (prior to this my colleagues and I had a model for ‘verifiable trustworthiness’ that resulted from our own work and our understanding of the literature).
By aligning to this defintion, you’re opening yourself up to significant work. I say this as a ‘good’ thing as you can define each of the 7 qualities and what they mean to your organisation. From this basis you can begin ‘designing’ the qualities into various organisational functions, which could lead to anything from small changes here and there to major new initiatives or projects.
Over the coming months we will explore each of the qualities, in addition to topics like:
An overview of trust states (exploring trust as a non binary phenomena)
The downsides of trust
Transparency doesn’t equal trust
Trust repair
The differences between trust and assurance
How trust seems to impact data sharing
Leadership actions to help model the 7 qualities
How to embed the 7 qualities into product and service design
Trustworthiness and corporate governance
How to get buy in for trust
Etc.
For now, let me leave you with something practical that you can begin playing around with.
The below is a simple Q&A style assessment that I often use with my clients in the very early stages of our work together. My suggestion is that you consider using it as part of the decision-making process you execute to assess new initiatives or changes to existing business functions.
This process can be run by an individual, team or in a formal workshop setting.
The outputs you produce will help guide what you do next. For instance, if the average score (from 1 - 7) is below 4, the whole thing might need a rethink. If some of the scores are very high and and others are very low, this might encourage specific work on the lower areas.
I’m not trying to teach you how to think here. Some of the ‘what to do after the assessment’ will be self evident.
When it comes to how you might enhance the various qualities, that’s a different question that requires time, consideration and an openness to exploration.
Basic assessment of trustworthiness
How aligned is this proposal (decision, action, tool, product etc.) to our intent (purpose) as an organisation: 1 - 7 (1 being not aligned at all, 7 being it couldn’t be better)
Please explain (character constrained)
How is this proposal likely to impact our ability to consistently deliver our value promise (competence): 1 - 7 (1 being not at all, 7 being something like we couldn't possibly deliver our proposition consistently without it)
Please explain (character constrained)
How is this proposal likely to affect our ability to treat our stakeholders with respect: 1 - 7 (1 being it'll destroy our ability to treat those we care about with respect, 7 being something like it's essential to treating the people we care about with the respect they deserve)
Please explain (character constrained)
How might this proposal impact our ability to be open and vulnerable: 1 - 7 (1 being something like this will significantly hinder our ability, 7 being something like this is essential to enabling us to operate openly and with a willingness to be vulnerable to the actions of others)
Please explain (character constrained)
How might this proposal impact our ability to be honest, accountable to our actions and impartial wherever possible (integrity): 1 - 7 (1 being something like this will destroy our ability to do so, 7 being something like this is essential to us operating with integrity)
Please explain (character constrained)
How might this proposal impact our ability to engage in just processes that deliver equitable outcomes (fairness): 1 - 7 (1 being something like this will destroy our ability to do so, 7 being something like this is essential to an organisational model that is fair, by design)
Please explain (character constrained)
How might this proposal impact our ability to actively include our stakeholders in ways that are valuable, meaningful and engaging: 1 - 7 (1 being something like this will destroy our ability to do so, 7 being something like this is essential to us designing effective processes and practices of inclusion i.e. participatory design, co-design etc.)
Please explain (character constrained)
How impactful and useful is our evidence of trustworthiness: 1 - 7 (1 being it literally has no impact on trust states, and 7 being it directly impacts the way our stakeholders make decisions about their relationship with us)
Please explain (character constrained)
This assessment is an easy way to start small. It’ll likely evolve your orientation and get you thinking much more intentionally about what it really means to be worthy of trust. In my experience, this begins to become a more ‘natural’ part of your everyday operations once you’ve used the tool a few times. This won’t replace formal or intentional work, but should enhance it.
Let me know how you get on. Happy to dive into the nuance and answer any questions you have.
Summary
Trustworthiness can be thought of as “the capacity an organisation has to consistently demonstrate intent, integrity, respect, fairness, openness, inclusion and competence.”
Aligning to this defintion will produce lots of new work that has significant value potential
Start your process with this way of thinking about trustworthiness by using the basic assessment above