Partnerwerks Collaboratory for the week of September 7
In this issue:
1. About Partnerwerks Collaboratory
2. The Formula for Building Trust
3. 5 Minute Practice Tip
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About Partnerwerks Collaboratory
Partnerwerks Collaboratory is published for anyone who shares
responsibility for getting things done and especially for
graduates of Partnerwerks popular corporate seminar Project Team
Leadership. Our purpose is to provide distinctions and tools for
building responsible relationships at work.
Please freely forward Collaboratory to your friends. Feedback and
suggestions are welcome and encouraged. Reply to
cavery@partnerwerks.com.
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And now for this week's Collaboratory...
The Formula for Building Trust
Have you ever been abandoned on what you thought was a team? Does
the fear of that happening again ever get in the way of your
committing to teams?
Confidence in one another is an essential ingredient of all
successful teamwork. Exactly what it takes to build confidence
(and, therefore, trust) may seem hard to define. But, basically,
the formula is embedded in the ways we make and keep agreements.
Think about it. Do you trust people who haven't kept their
agreements with you? I'll bet you donıt make important agreements
with them anymore.
>From my perspective, the formula that builds trust looks like
this:
First, make a small agreement with someone, one you can afford to
risk.
Second, complete the agreementkeep your end and see if they keep
theirs.
Third, make a larger, more risky agreement and repeat the process.
Sounds really simple. But, in my experience, the formula is too
seldom applied. Small agreements are easy to make and forget
since they are small ("Iıll call you."). Trust is almost always
built by making and keeping small agreements. Why? Because if you
do not keep small agreements, then you do not get the chance to
make large agreements.
Some essential rules about agreements:
1. Never ever make any agreement that you do not fully intend to
keep (no matter how small).
2. Clean up all broken agreements at the first opportunity (next
weekıs tip will tell how).
Get started with this week's 5-Minute Practice Tip.
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5-Minute Practice Tip
This week, use a 3 x 5 card that you carry with you to record
each and every agreement you make over the course of a day or
two. Carry the card until you complete each and every agreement.
Faithfully,
Christopher M. Avery
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(c) Copyright Partnerwerks Collaboratory, 1998.