Tryst With Trust: 4 Golden Rules To Strengthen Your Business Roots

A competent leader always knows his business is beyond what qualification can ever buy. When it comes to building trust in the way one does business, the age old wisdom always helps.

American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist Warren Buffet once famously said: “It takes 20 year to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.”

Today, when businesses are growing on more unconventional platforms and in diverse ways, trust is a uniform requirement that has held the stead through years. Whether it is a relationship with your clients, customers, employees, employers or stakeholders of your business and even your potential customers, all look for one thing – that is trust.

Because trust doesn’t begin after the businesses have gained ground. It begins right from the root of business when the seed is sown. Unless trust becomes an integral part of the business plan, and is integrated into the pathway in which the business has to grow, you can be sure there isn’t much future to the business. Trust is something businesses will have to constantly work on keeping up with, because it is not a one-time exercise. It is constant, ongoing and never reaches a position from where things can be taken for granted. In fact, as businesses grow, the factor of trust becomes all the more important because the changed scenarios always test the trust meter through dynamic situations.

Levels of public scrutiny are higher than ever before. Any company that gets creative with its tax, or miss-sells its consumers something that’s beyond or less than what is being promised, there certainly would be a buzz about how the business house isn’t trustworthy. Giving customers or employees a raw deal has never helped any company hold its grounds, let alone grow.

Social networking sites are better channels of communication and are more democratic than ever before. News is easily available online. People access news through various channels that are mostly free. People expect businesses to keep up their promise and hold on to good practices, even when times get challenging. This is the ‘rough patch’ through which people earn brownie points to use during rainy days.
What helps businesses earn trust and retain it through all times? Answer is never straight or easy. And at a level of execution, challenges increase manifold. More than anything else, it’s an ongoing exercise that will go on as long as the company is alive.

But, risking things for trust is like risking good stuff for a safe future. It means future of the companies that earn their employees and customers’ trust is written in golden words.

How does that happen? Well, the methods are simple. Only, the tough ones will keep up with them despite the challenging circumstances. And why not, when the going gets tough, the tough get going.

Below are some golden rules to keep the tryst with the trust on.

Communication
Whether it is with employees or customers, don’t bury your head in the sand pit if the times get challenging. Keep a dialogue on, and answer some tough questions. This will never sink you. In fact, this may help you hold your head high even when you cannot see the light.

Be the ‘fix-it’ man
Never pass the buck. If you ever go into a phase of bad times, don’t stand there and point fingers. No one believes you even if you have a genuine case. It does not matter who caused it. What matters is who can fix it. And being the ‘fix it’ man helps lift your spirits and the level of trust people place in you.

No haste
Everyone wants to make a windfall when the gold rush is on. But, what matters is whether you can sustain it. Don’t rush because it’s a ‘done’ thing. Tread and treat the situation with wisdom. Check if you can tread for the benefit of others. Because when you benefit, too many people will be happy. When you fail, no one will take questions for you. Stay calm. Stay put. And stay on!

Transparency and apology
These are two golden rules for any situation that seems to be getting out of control. There is nothing like admitting you were wrong. Some may get angry. A whole lot will stay with you. Make the right choice and be always on the right side. Trust will always be by your side.