If trust could be ranked on an index from 1-10, where would you be? Would you be above 5? Especially as it relates to the people around you, those that you interact with every day—your family, friends, and co-workers, what is your trust quotient?
Trust is the lubricant that lets you get things done. Without trust, it is almost impossible to move forward with business goals, let alone personal ones. So, are you building trust with those you work with? How about with your family and friends?
In my last blog, I let you know that I took on an opportunity at TwinLab, to transition the company to the 21st century. This has been both frightening and exciting, but it has also given me a chance to reaffirm how important trust really is.
The company has a tremendous 50-year heritage and is one of the world’s best known nutrition brands. There are a lot of positive assets to work with at the company, which is fabulous. It’s exciting being dropped into a new city and going right to work with an entire new team of people. I have a long list of things to do: Make my wife happy, find a barber, a dentist, a home, a car, and oh, yea, transition a company from its stagnant state to a 21st century industry leader. All doable, but a little overwhelming, especially when you add this to the fact that the company’s old legacy systems needed to be changed—and when you change systems you find that some people’s skills no longer benefit the organization —Whhhooaa, Nellie! Just writing about it makes me queasy.
But there are things that don’t change, even when your whole life seems up in the air, and those are the things you have to hang on to when you are in a new city, in a transitional business, around all new people. So I’ve been wondering why I’ve felt a little frightened, and what could make this overwhelming life change become the exciting journey it should be?
One word: Trust.
Let’s start with my wife agreeing to come with me and help me. I had complete trust in my wife to find a home, furnish it and take care of all of the details that come along with that, and she did it flawlessly. She picked out a place to live and did all of the paperwork and financing work. I am so grateful for that.
Then at TwinLab, the self-proclaimed #FemSquad led the charge in making changes happen, fully trusting the new executive leadership team. These people (not just women, but men, too) made my heart sing. All of this, all these good people in my life, they created a calm in the middle of a business tornado.
It was all down to trust, and the staggering amount that can be quickly accomplished when you trust each other— like in my experience with the TwinLab folks, you don’t know each other very well.
The new managers at TwinLab started stepping up at every turn—taking down silos, changing old policies, doing everything that needed to be done to transition the company. Oh, my! It was so exciting to watch. I realized that it was the underlying trust that this team had garnered through rough times, long before I arrived, that was bubbling up.
In my opinion, these employees once stifled by management, suddenly became a well-oiled machine, lubricated by trust. And the team, at all levels of the organization, where able to and encouraged to express themselves freely. This expression of their thoughts has made a positive impact on the transition. And it wasn’t about old school, legacy business or digitization and the new world order, it was about fundamental virtues and values. In a word, trust.
Now, I will step back and say that all of you reading this have probably been in a similar situation at some point in your life. Maybe moving to a new city or taking on a new job. Maybe even getting married or living with someone—all things that bring new challenges and the same unsettled feeling for a while. But trust can help you overcome those queasy feelings that come with life change.
Are you building trust with everyone around on a day-to-day basis? How is your trust index with family, friends and work associates? How can you improve your own trust index?
I am so happy that my wife and this team at TwinLab has a very high trust index. If trust is the lubricant that lets you get things done, and I believe it is, then there is no limit to what we can accomplish.
Trust on—
AZ
.
