Page 168 - Fearless Leadership

Standing for the Success of Each Other 155

an unfaltering belief that you share the same commitments,
beliefs, and values.
Conditional circle of trust. The conditional circle gives us the
latitude to test people and see if they can make it inside our
privileged group. Or we use the conditional circle to toss out
those who were once in our inner circle but no longer meet our
personal criteria. The conditions people impose for this part of the
circle vary. Some label others as conditional based on such past
experiences as the individual not keeping his or her commitments.
Others put people in the conditional circle to see if they can live
up to their personal standard of behavior.
Outer circle of trust. Typically we place people in the outer
circle who have not demonstrated sufficient evidence that they are
worthy of progressing toward our inner circle of confidants. They
may be in our outer circle simply due to a lack of information and
experience. But we also place people in this circle when we lose
confidence in them and feel we can no longer count on them.
In these cases, we move from viewing individuals or groups as
neutral to seeing them as detrimental to obtaining our goals.
We doubt their commitment and do not trust their intention to
do the right thing regardless of circumstances.

We seldom stop to consider where people are in our circle of trust. We
simply respond automatically and in a different way with those we trust
than with those we don’t. When was the last time you said to someone
“You are outside my circle of trust”? You probably do not consider or talk
about who is in or outside your circle of trust. But your behavior sends the
message anyway, and others interpret whether they are trusted or not by
your actions. Likewise, others are constantly sending you a message about
where you are in their circle of trust. Unless we form committed partner-
ships and have a way to build and restore trust, we are left with the
devastating automatic fluctuations that occur when people are shuffled
in and out.
You already know the value of trust on teams and in organizations.
When unconditional trust is not present, automatic behaviors are.