Trust is Your Most Valuable Currency

Roar with Lakecia Gunter

Where would we be without trust? In our personal lives, it’s an important factor in building relationships. It’s not always at the top of our list of priorities when running a business, but it should be. Business is all about relationships. Trust is a social currency in the corporate realm, and if you invest in trust, it can really benefit your bottom line.

A leadership structure that places value on the internal health of the organization is capable of producing incredible results. When employees work in an environment where they feel secure, valued, and autonomous, they are more productive. Positive organizational psychology and high trust means a happier, more efficient, and more profitable workplace.

My guest today is Bill Hefferman, a brilliant organizational development leader who has dedicated his career to creating high performing workplaces. For more than 25 years, Bill has been a leader in the field of Organizational Development Theory. Through his insights and common sense approach to problem-solving, he helps people and organizations transition towards trust, thereby uncovering healthier relationships, happier workplaces, and higher productivity.

Bill has led initiatives across a wide range of organizations across the world, and his practical approach has helped teams and leaders to work through tough issues by helping people find common ground. In my first role as a manager at Intel, I was fortunate to partner with Bill. His coaching, insight, and guidance were invaluable in helping me to establish a strong foundation of trust from day one with my new team.

Today Bill is going to help us map out a plan for quickly establishing trust in both your personal and professional relationships. We’ll discuss how trust is built within leadership, and why it’s a fundamental part of the relationship between managers and employees. He’ll also provide a few relatable examples and tangible actions that we can all use to build and rebuild trust with people at home and in the workplace.

Some Questions I Ask:

• Who were some of your biggest influences growing up? (7:26)
• What stands out as a defining moment that helped you really uncover your ROAR? (11:03)
• What can organizations do today to start to create a high trust culture? (14:52)
• What are some actionable, tangible things that we can do to build trust? (19:33)
• What are the benefits of a high trust organization to the business? (25:24)
• What are some simple things that we can do to strengthen our relationships and strengthen the trust foundation as people are working differently through COVID? (37:30)

What You’ll Learn About in This Episode:

• Recognizing the pivotal moments that lead you towards your calling (5:42)
• Building trust among strangers (9:22)
• The superpower of fluency in a foreign language (12:21)
• Humanity as a building block of organizational trust (15:55)
• The importance of authenticity and vulnerability in establishing trust (17:09)
• The mindset of authentic vulnerability (17:55)
• Vulnerability as a path to forgiveness (21:36)
• Trust and the bottom line (26:53)
• Character trust versus competence trust (28:46)
• Dealing with challenging conversations about trust (31:54)
• An example of vulnerability on live television (33:54)
• Setting and respecting boundaries (39:41)

Connect with Bill Hefferman:

• LinkedIn

Resources:

• Book: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
• Book: Trust Factor: The Science of Creating High-Performance Companies by Paul J. Zak
• Book: The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything by Stephen M. R. Covey
• Book: Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler, Stephen R. Covey
• Show: Masterpiece Theatre

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