The five Trust Questions
The better question is: what do they need to trust you with?
Trust is contextual, not a single score. Use the five Trust Questions to identify what someone needs confidence in and the behaviour they need to experience.
Insights · Articles
Ideas about trust you can use.
Current thinking on the moments where confidence is earned, borrowed, tested or quietly lost.
Latest thinking
Start with the question in front of you.
Explore the question closest to what you’re working on.
Reading trust signals
How do you know if someone trusts you?
Trust is shown in behaviour, never announced.
Feedback and trust
Almost nobody erodes trust on purpose
People can steadily erode trust without knowing how they are being experienced. Feedback is the route by which an invisible pattern becomes visible to the person creating it.
Authority, compliance and trust
Authority is not trust: why compliance can hide a confidence gap
Authority can produce compliance without trust. Learn how a green status report can hide the confidence gap between following a role and trusting its holder.
Consistency and adaptability
Changing your mind doesn't have to erode trust
Changing a decision need not damage trust. Confidence is more likely to survive when people can follow the purpose, evidence and reasoning behind the change.
Values and trust
Is trust a value or an outcome?
Trust is not a value an organisation can claim. Values guide behaviour. Trust is the conclusion other people reach about that behaviour afterwards.
The two speeds of trust
Why some trust moves in minutes and some takes months
Stored perceptions usually move slowly. A live decision about one risk can move fast. Diagnose whether the blocker is a gap in evidence or something the person is protecting.
Ethical influence
The difference between influence and manipulation
Influence and manipulation can use the same techniques. A transparent-reason test helps you spot pressure, concealment and manufactured urgency.
Borrowed trust in practice
Your qualification opens the door. It doesn't keep you trusted.
Qualifications, referrals and reputation can lend a practitioner early confidence. Direct experience decides whether that borrowed trust lasts.
Habits and trust
Do you say thank you to Alexa?
Small habits help trust-strengthening behaviour remain available under pressure. What thanking a smart speaker can reveal about practice and consistency.
You do not decide if you are trusted
Why don't people trust me when I know I'm trustworthy?
You know your intentions; other people judge what they experience. Understand why someone may not trust you and how to examine the evidence they have.
Trust Telegraph
Get the next useful idea by email.
Trust Telegraph is a short note for people whose work depends on other people’s confidence.