Life is better with trust. Having trust, being trustworthy and trusting others are wonderful ideals to strive for. More can be accomplished when trust is present. Marriages and businesses are broken every day due to the lack of trust. Trust is fragile; it is built over time but can be destroyed in seconds. Almost everyone understands trust however it is challenging to define it. Trust starts with each of us. Creating your own trust is where it starts.
Recently I started reading Steven M.R. Covey’s book The Speed of Trust. He proposes that your trust is based on four cores of personal credibility.
INTEGRITY is the first core. Covey describes integrity as your actions in harmony with your values and beliefs. This can be challenging. Do you have the courage to do the right thing? Are you more concerned by what is right rather than being right? He suggests that you act on good ideas rather than work to have good ideas, as well as embrace new ideas rather than defend outdated positions. Integrity includes building a team and recognizing the contributions of others.
Covey offers three actions that you can take to increase your integrity.
- Keeping your commitments to yourself
- Stand for something.
- Be willing to listen, consider new ideas and be influenced by them
INTENT is the second core of personal creditability that builds trust. What is your agenda or your motive in your transactions with others? Your intent grows out of your character. We tend to judge ourselves by intent, but judge others by their behavior. In addition our judgement of others’ intent is bias based on our personal experiences. He contends that acting in the best interest of others is the best way to create credibility and trust.
Covey offers three ways to improve intent:
- Clarify your motives; it doesn’t matter whether it is with your spouse, coworker, or customer.
- Declare your intent. Sharing your strengths while meeting with a prospect is not a form of bragging, the intent is to give them the confidence that you are qualified.
- Choose the mindset of abundance not scarcity. Choosing scarcity typically brings the worst of people to light.
CAPABILITIES make up the third core. Your capabilities start with your unique strengths and talents. Do you work with them? Having the right attitudes about work, life, learning and yourself will increase your capabilities. Using your strengths with the right level of skills and knowledge will increase your capabilities. Remember to stay current for now and the future. Another element that fully utilizes your capabilities is your style in approaching problems, opportunities and interacting with others. The objective is to achieve the results you desire.
Three ways to increase your capabilities:
- Run with your strengths. Allow yourself to shine.
- Keep yourself relevant.
- Know where you are going, so you can acquire the relevant capabilities to maximize your success.
The final core he defines as RESULTS. What is your track record? Your past can give an indication of your present results and future results. Results can be defined as bottom line or by intent. Intentions such as play hard, have fun, be a good sport, good team player, learn something and to win. It is critical to obtain the results through integrity.
He suggests three ways to improve your results:
- Take responsibility for results. Determine what actions will create the desired results.
- Develop a Mindset that Expects to win – confidence, optimism, faith
- Finish strong – push at the end
As you create your new start, building trust with yourself will increase your confidence and improve your results.
To improve your capabilities regarding tax, accounting or finance issues give us a call us at 920-351-4842 to set up a discovery meeting. At FOCUS CPA Inc. our intent is to improve the lives of small business owners.
Mary Guldan-Lindstrom
