14 September 2017
Value of Gaslight Culture: Trust is Everything
We’re back with the second installment of the “Value of Gaslight Culture” series! In this blog series, we’re taking a deeper look at all five of our core values and how they make us better individuals and Gaslighters. If you missed the first one, you can catch it here. This week’s value is “Trust is everything.” I’ll be talking about what trust means to us while sharing wisdom from other Gaslighters along the way.
At Gaslight, we build trust through transparency. When in doubt, we think it’s best to talk to the other person, even when it’s hard. Especially when it’s hard. When trust goes up, speed goes up. Morale goes up.
Trust is a Two-Way Street
“Trust is Everything means that in the relationships that I have with my teammates, the leadership team, and my clients, we treat each other with the same level of respect, honesty, and transparency. I expect that to be reciprocated, as this is a two-way street. Trust is not established if both sides of the court are not playing equally.”
To be worthy of the trust of your teammates, you need to do your best work also. To nurture trust, you also need to trust yourself. When we know we are trusted by others, we are more likely to hold ourselves more accountable. We are more motivated to do our best because we don’t want to let this person down. It isn’t that we want to do our best out of fear, but because of the sincere relationship that is established with trust.
“Trust is everything is about trusting that everyone around you is doing their best. It’s about trusting that your client and your team have the best intentions with what they say and do. The tricky part is that it’s a two-way street. We have to build trust so that our clients believe we have good intentions and are working toward the same goals they are. It’s about building a partnership and a friendship.”
Trust Makes Better Teams
“Trust is what enables us to be more than just really great individual problem solvers. Trusting in our coworkers and our clients, and vice versa, allows us to become something greater than ourselves. Trust is how we can overcome ego to ensure that all of the decisions made along the way are always in the best interest of the people that we’ve set out to help. Good communication is the best sign of a great team. When we trust each other we can speak more openly and honestly with each other. That’s because we know that whatever is said isn’t personal, it’s so that we can grow and become better. Being able to communicate with each other from a place of trust opens the door to work more effectively, develop stronger relationships and grow as a team, as well as individuals.”
Trust is one of the best ways to improve relationships with others. In our professional lives, we spend much of it working together. When we trust, we can feel like we can do our best work. We can have more efficient teams. We can see the best in our coworkers. Trust is a choice.
When we have more efficient and more trustworthy teams, we have happier clients. Our engagements will be better and our software will be better.
Trust is Freedom
“Trust is Everything means that we as people give each other the benefit of the doubt that they had the right intentions even when they say or do something that we don’t agree with. It also means that we have the freedom to take chances because we all understand that failure isn’t fatal.”
While trust may be hard, it has great rewards. Trusting someone to do their job removes the weight off of your own shoulders. Trusting the other person gets rid of the urge to micro-manage, which is exhausting and unhealthy. It gives you less to worry about and lets the other person feel like their teammates believe in them.
We’re all people, so we’re going to screw up. Sometimes we may have good intentions but our actions don’t end up being the best choice. Trust is forgiving. Trust is looking deeper to see people’s hearts.
“Trust is believing people are doing what they need to do and asking for help if not!”
Have you ever been trying to work on something while you’ve felt eyes on you constantly? It’s detrimental to the success of the team. Not only can distrust be detrimental to success, but also to morale. For people to do their best work, they need to be in good mental shape. And good mental health can be nurtured with enriching relationships.
“When I know that trust is highly valued, it lets me focus on the things that deliver the most value. I know that I don’t need to spend the mental or emotional overhead to worry that someone may be second-guessing my decisions.”
Trust makes us better people. Trust has even been found to be linked to better health, more happiness, and higher intelligence.
Putting confidence in others like this reduces the stress for you and the other person. When you let go of the fear that things may go wrong, you say to yourself, “I am willing to experience this new thing, even if something goes wrong.” You can’t be afraid of what will go wrong all the time. When you live without fear of the future, you live your best life.
Trust is a key trait of being a good Gaslighter and human. A bit of trust can go a long way. Trust must be mutual for it to work. Trust strengthens bonds and sets projects up for success. Then trust opens doors for freedom in our work and personal lives.
