Page 107 - Managing the Mobile Workforce

86 � mAnAgIng the moBIle workForCe

leader or organization. A leader’s willingness to trust his or her em-
ployees develops based upon whether that person does what she prom-
ises. Lori Coruccini, the Founder/CEO, of Predix Inc., a national
company that specializes in leveraging behavior to develop produc-
tive, high-performance teams, says, “Typically there is a behavioral
reason that somebody will not trust somebody. We see it all the time.
That’s an example of the owner not letting go or even the manage-
ment not letting go in the field because of not trusting what’s going
to be done.” 15
This isn’t the same as having a propensity to trust, which occurs
because of some past personal or professional relationship or of a per-
sonality trait; instead, it is the direct result of the specific relationship
between employee and manager or employee and organization. If the
last interaction has been one of perceived betrayal, then gaining that
trust again is less likely to happen. If there have been a series of out-
comes that have resulted in perceptions of betrayal or just unfulfilled
promises, then trust building is even less likely to occur. The opposite
is true. When someone comes through, when the organization does
what it has promised, when an employee delivers on time, then trust
builds. That is why trust can take a while to grow. Long-term, deep
trust depends on a series of outcomes occurring over days, months,
and years.

loss of trust
Whenever trust has been extended but then lost, it is very difficult
to recover, because the other party has been burned. All the prom-
ises you may make to compensate for the fact that you didn’t come
through with the compensation or pay you’d vowed for good perfor-
mance will not take the place of behaving with integrity and doing
what you say you will. “You can’t talk yourself out of a problem that
you’ve behaved yourself into,” Stephen Covey told us. “We’ve got to
behave our way out of the problem we’ve behaved ourselves into. In
fact that is the only way out. The words may help, but it ultimately
comes down to behavior.”