Trust is not merely a soft, social virtue; rather, trust is a pragmatic, hard-edged, economic, and actionable asset that you can create. Leading at the Speed of Trust is about your ability to demonstrate credibility and behaviour—for leaders, for teams, and for organisations.

Trust Is an Economic Driver

There is a compelling business case for trust. Teams and organisations that operate with high trust significantly outperform teams and organisations with low trust—this has been proven in dozens of studies, across a multitude of industries and sectors.

As an economic driver, trust always impacts two measureable outcomes: speed and cost. When there is low trust in a relationship, on a team, or in an organisation—you will see speed go down and costs go up. Simply put, this is a tax. The opposite is also true. When trust is high in a relationship, on a team, in an organisation—speed will increase and costs will decrease. This is a dividend.

Trust is the great accelerator. Where trust is high, everything is faster and less complicated, and where trust is low, everything is slower, costlier, and encumbered with suspicion. Significant distrust doubles the cost of doing business and the time it takes to get things done.

Building Trust Is the One Thing that Changes Everything

As leaders, you’re expected to collaborate, engage your people and execute key goals. But you can’t truly collaborate with people you don’t trust—or who don’t trust you. You might be able to merely coordinate, but you won’t be able to truly collaborate.

As leaders, you’re expected to attract and retain top talent. Nothing attracts and retains people like a trusted leader. High performers love being trusted—and they respond to it and perform better. Where there is no trust, your ability to lead is significantly diminished: relationships decay, projects stall, customers go to competitors, initiatives underperform, and work grinds to a crawl.

Conversely, high trust is a “performance multiplier.” Leaders who have learned the skill of creating trust will leverage the incredible dividends of high trust. And, they will be able to do everything better, faster, for less cost, and with greater engagement and fun along the way. It’s trust that turns a group of people into a team. It’s trust that turns a vendor into a true partner. It’s trust that creates a strong brand with loyal customers.