Trust...Successful Change

In previous blog posts we discussed relationships, trust and change.  What I want to do today is to explore how those things go together.

Businesses are changing all of the time.  We have all seen the stats of retailers that were in business 20 years ago along with Kroger who are no longer around now.  They did not change…we did.

We are changing all of the time.  We are constantly pushing change on our people.  This can be a good thing and is a necessary thing but what is the secret to sustaining the change?

We sustain change based upon the strength of our relationships.

Strong relationships bring trust to our business.

With trust many things are possible.  Without trust few things are possible.  Without trust nothing can be sustained.

To have successful change one must develop strong, long lasting relationships which breed strong bonds of trust.

With this trust people are willing to take on risk.  People will be willing to take on the change because you have proven to them that you care about them and that you will lead them in the right direction.

A simple example of this is comes from how you choose where to eat when you are in a strange city.  Do you choose the familiar place because you know it, trust it to supply ok but not great food.  Or do you choose a place you have never heard of before and are unsure of the quality of food they serve even if you have heard the food was great?  Many will choose the lesser quality because they know and trust the food.  The “risk” to try something new is not as attractive because no trust has been developed between the restaurant and you.

So if you are having issues with getting your folks to accept what you are asking them to do, explore your relationship with them.