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Trust, for what it’s worth
A recent article in the FT caught my attention. It was a book review regarding the nature of successful people at work. It was based on research about both people who had become successful and who were tipped by their peers or seniors to become successful. It analysed the top 10 factors which made them successful.
Before going into some of them, stop for a second and think about your colleagues. Which would you describe as successful ? To what would you ascribe this success ?
Try it on a piece of paper.
Inevitably it is a complex mix of things. Is it the way they get things done? The way they listen to people? Is it their social skills, in and out of work, or their background and education? Is it self publicity, or worse, the way they crawl around the ‘boss’ ? There are so many factors at play that it hard without empirical data to see which factors count the most and which factors actually work against someone.
The key factors which the article pointed out, as far as they struck me, were mentoring, networking and trust.
Most successful people would not be able to identify these factors as notably as some others but in sitting down with my piece of paper they do stick out as common to most, if not all, of the successful people I know.
Notably these 3 factors are not instantaneously achieved. They take time for peers, colleagues and friends to identify and believe. They take time out of someone’s day to maintain over long periods despite more immediate pressures. They represent a belief system which is maintained in and out of the workplace.
Mentoring by senior staff, taking time out to coach and guide, as well as more formally instruct or educate someone plays a big part in the development of anyone. Interestingly mentors acquired need never leave a relationship. They will always be there for a career conversation, a sounding board or ideas. Over time they become a very key part of a network.
Networking itself takes in a wider circle of colleagues. Inside and outside the business, social and pure business. This workplace and the previous ones. Informal sources of knowledge and of information which allow someone to more quickly put together the ‘big picture’ of what is going on and what needs doing. Information about competition, about new entrants and about internal projects which may affect what one is doing.
However without the last of the three characteristics, trust, these activities do not lead to success. Quite the reverse. If a trust is betrayed or a debt not paid then it is very difficult to repair.
According to the research once trust has been broken someone will be removed from a network. They may not notice for a while but the network excludes them from the information on which their success depends.
This theme is echoed in further work by Nigel Nicholson at London Business School. In a recent article titled “How Hardwired Is Human Behaviour?” he explores why it might be that we cannot change certain organisational behaviours.
He argues that since we spent 200,000 years surviving and 10,000 years or so becoming civilised, our survival instincts are not easily suppressed. He argues a wide range of points but this theme of networking and trust occurs again.
He argues that those people who are good at empathy and mind reading have and will survive best. These factors are the building blocks of gossip. People are much more likely to hear secrets and other information if they are trusted and sympathetic. They are therefore better equipped. Furthermore since gossip is “hardwired” into us as a survival technique there is no point trying to kill the rumour machine around the office! Keep it healthy and productive!
I am not sure what the stone age equivalent of junk mail was, but next time somebody throws a rock over the partition at you read what’s scratched into the side of it - it maybe useful information…..
If you have taken a look at your own success criteria and they do not include mentoring, networking and being trustworthy then there are no quick fixes. Answers on a postcard please…..
Peter Massey is a Director of Budd - Budd's expertise is in delivering sustainable business benefits from customer strategies, including CMR. Budd is a founding partner in the Limebridge Global Alliance. Contact Peter on www.budd.uk.com and www.limebridge.com
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