Clayton_Morris's Blog

Recently I had the wonderful honor of being invited to a discussion with Dr. Stephen Covey's son Stephen M.R. Covey, as a part of a intimate leadership forum.  Wow!  What a landmark, penetratingly fantastic experience.  I wanted to share some of what Stephen calls "leading at the speed of trust."  This is especially beneficial for bosses and entrepreuners who are wondering why their companies simply aren't performing. 

Stephen describes Trust as the key accelerator, the key extender, and the key motivator for all that is accomplished in life today.  Therefore, lack of Trust is the key frustrator in business.  I work in television... which is a business built on lack of trust, just like the law profession.  How do you build trust with an audience when so much of what we cover is simply based on lack of trust?  Good question.  And it's one that's frustrated news directors for years.  My take:  you listen to your audience first, tell them the truth, treat them as equals, and never talk down to them... and you'll see amazing value added results.  In the end you ask yourself the question as an anchor:  What is the value to the viewer?  How can this benefit them? 

Trust, as Covey describes it, always affects two outcomes in business:  Speed and Cost.  Through voluminous research, Covey has realized that Trust is a measurable value that can be placed on a business transaction.  When trust is low, you're going to see speed go down, and costs will go up.  When he's talking about trust he's really talking about Confidence.  If you have confidence in someone during a business transaction you are more likely to move quickly... getting quick results. 

How's this for results?  A recent study of 12,000 managers, which contrasted high-trust organizations versus low-trust organizations, discovered this:  The high trust organizations out-performed the low-trust organizations by 286%.  That's three times higher!!!!   Covey says If your boss rules by edict then the employees will never feel valued, and the business will underperform and get beaten everytime.  If the boss listens and values the skills of each employee, instead of ruling with an iron fist, he'll win everytime.  Imagine an employee being told to create spreadsheets when, if asked, that employee would have explained that that's not one of his strong suits.  His skill set could be better utilized in other, more beneficial areas... but he'd never know because the boss never asked, and he probably didn't care.  And that's no way to run an effective business.

To end, Steven quoted the former CEO of Johnson and Johnson, "I have found that by trusting people until they've proved themselves unworthy of that trust, a lot more happens."  Great quote!