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I pay my respects and acknowledge all Traditional Custodians of Country and on whose land I live and work. I recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. I pay my respects to their Elders past and present.
Always was, always will be.

Welcome to this week's useletter

focussing on your future not my past, a newsletter that's useful.

Many. Many years ago. When I was between architectural degrees, travelling overseas, I got scammed badly.

Like, embarrassingly badly.

Visit to the Australian Embassy badly. (And not the circumstances I'd intended to see the superb Paris embassy by Harry Seidler.)

Losing money that way is f^*ked and humiliating.

Trust is a funny thing. (It's not really)

I sure as hell didn't trust that dude, but...

You know that feeling of vulnerability when arriving in a country for the first time?

When all you have is the worst school boy French. (Last in French me)

When it's 1990 and all you've got is a weighty "Let's Go Europe" travel guide, a vague idea of where the YHA is, and no online booking.

Then there's that moment,

When someone shows interest in helping you and you decide to trust them (kinda) rather sorting out your own accomodation for the night with your s#!tty French.

The thing is our typical inclination is to trust someone. It's an evolutionary hangover. Communal creatures rely on trust to sustain cooperation and the collective. To trust is our default setting. Not deep trust, but trust nevertheless. Trust is not earned, it's a start point, and it can be lost quickly.

That dodgy dude lost my trust quickly.

But I was young, overconfident and silly to think I could play him!

And that's all she wrote.

Money gone. (Not all of it but enough to change my plans 😞)

Trust is at the heart of all our relationships, our transactions, and crucial in all our work and life. It's also essential to distributed leadership, which I wrote about in my blog last week. So for this week's useletter I'm restoring trust. Starting, by writing about it!

I got you

Michael

Restoring trust

During the pandemic I was fascinated observer of organisations transitioning to remote work. Especially those thriving or alternately melting down. Mostly contingent upon the organisation's culture and internal trust. Trust is essential to an organisation. Yet power and authority are too often wielded as if they're the ultimate tools in organisational leadership. They're not. I hope we agree.

Research by Paul J. Zak has shown:

Compared with people at low-trust companies, people at high-trust companies report: 74% less stress, 106% more energy at work, 50% higher productivity, 13% fewer sick days, 76% more engagement, 29% more satisfaction with their lives, 40% less burnout.

Trust is the ultimate tool, see ☝🏼. And when it's lost, things get melty.

Trust is about communication. It's key. Trust requires a safe space for conversations. A space in which trust can thrive. All those companies that melted down, good communication was often the point of failure.

Trust is lost when someone is aggrieved by another's action or inaction. They might decide it's an intentional slight. People make up stories in the absence of information. Averting the wronged story requires letting the other person know you're aggrieved. It can require a tricky conversation. Communication may not resolve the concern but can save the loss of trust. And it all requires a safe space in which these discussions can be held. Space without repercussions or judgement.

Conversely, when through our actions we think we may have lost someone's trust, the best course is also conversation. Yes, it's uncomfortable and difficult, but any future endeavour is unlikely to win back the trust without a chat first. Your example, to be vulnerable in initiating this conversation, will also help to build greater trust. Assisting and giving others permission to act likewise. It demonstrates you'll similarly respect the other person's vulnerability and needs.

Worth noting: these conversations may be one on one, or between a number of people. They might be group conversations initiated by management with staff or vice versa. Or conversations between teams, management, or leadership.

Mistakes and how we handle them, is the other side of the trust equation. Forgiveness and giving second chances is crucial. We must own our mistakes, actively working to rectify things, whilst also allowing others the same grace. By doing so we retain, build or restore relationships and associated trust.

Restoring trust takes humility, vulnerability, curiosity and good communication and it's no coincidence these all correspond with the core skills of leadership.

Trust is a dynamic thing.

It can be earned.

Lost.

And restored.

You got this.

Let's chat

At unmeasured I take the argh out of architectural practice.

Helping architects rethink and find joy in their practice.

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