PSIMay2018

The formula for success
Relationships, trust and teamwork
– that’s the formula for business
success says expert Jim Rathbone
in his latest advice piece for
installers
ood relationships and trust are vital
Gingredients for building high performing
teamwork. And all three – relationships,
trust and teamwork - are essential for building
and sustaining success as a security installation
and service business.
So let me ask: why is management so often
almost exclusively focused on sales, marketing,
new technologies, pricing, customer service,
operations efficiency and financial
management?
These hard deliverables are obviously
important. Every one of us who has ever been a
business leader knows the importance of these
hard tangible measurements.
However, my experience in business
management and in working with security
installers is that there is a vital ingredient for
business success – without which no amount of
business savvy works – and that is teamwork
built on trust.
We can’t get away from the fact that effective
teamwork is built on relationships, and
relationships are built on trust.
Consider therefore the trust equation – as it
sheds light on both teamwork and relationships.
This trust equation is used by many
professionals in the global consultancy industry
who seek to build mutually beneficial business
relationships as trusted advisors.
Trust is a function of four factors. Three of
these factors positively contribute to trust. One,
in principle, detracts from trust.
Think about it:
Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy
Trust = -------------------------------------------
Self-Interest
Let’s break it down.
In the numerator of this equation, above the
line, trust builds in teams when there is:
• Competence – where team members show
up and are seen as capable to do their jobs,
professional within their respective disciplines
• Reliability - where team members are seen
to do what they say they will do, deliver as
promised, be true to their commitments
• Intimacy – where team members have real
work-relevant relationships that create positive
energy and good team dynamics
In the denominator of this equation, below
the line, trust and relationships are enhanced
when the self-interest of the individual
concerned is secondary to their interest in what
is good for the business or their
(continued over)
We can’t get away
from the fact that
effective teamwork is
built on relationships,
and relationships are
built on trust
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