The Speed of Trust: An Interview with Stephen M.R. Covey

HomeMy Supply Chain Rocks BlogThe Speed of Trust: An Interview with Stephen M.R. Covey

When I interviewed Steven M.R. Covey, author of New York Times bestseller, The Speed of Trust, recently, we discussed how trust makes your business dealings faster, more efficient, and more profitable by helping you to connect better with your clients.

The Speed of Trust: An Interview with Stephen M.R. Covey

In the book, Covey identifies 13 authentic, trust-building behaviors:

  1. Talk straight
  2. Demonstrate respect
  3. Create transparency
  4. Right wrongs
  5. Show loyalty
  6. Deliver results
  7. Get better/continuously improve
  8. Confront reality
  9. Clarify expectations
  10. Practice accountability
  11. Listen first
  12. Keep commitments
  13. Extend trust

The discussion we had was quite wide-ranging, and we also delved into areas like creating and maintaining credibility, building (and sometimes restoring) trust, collaboration vs. coordination, the danger of counterfeit instead of opposite behaviors, etc.

Here’s a quick summary of some of the main points:

  • There is a compelling business case for trust.
  • Trust is a hard-edged economic driver, not an intangible virtue or behavior trait.
  • Trust directly affects the speed at which your organization moves, and therefore the real overall cost of doing business.
  • When trust is reduced in a business, organization, or team, everything takes longer. This lack of speed causes costs to rise — a type of inefficiency tax.
  • Conversely, when trust is increased, everything becomes smoother, faster, more efficient, and less costly to achieve.
  • Trust can be monetized — it has an economic value. Because they can operate faster and at reduced costs, high trust businesses create approximately three times more value for shareholders than low trust organizations do.
  • Trust is quantifiable – it can be identified, measured, and broken down into various components.
  • Trust is a skill that can be learned. You can develop expertise and competency in purposefully building trust via your actions and behaviors.
  • Trust and technology are two of the things that will help businesses move into the future.
  • Trust is the ultimate collaboration tool – trust takes coordinators and turns them into true collaborators.