Defining trust so we can increase it

Experts believe trust is the core foundation of strong interpersonal relationships, teams, and organizations.  

Most of us have interpersonal relationships such as lovers, friends, or co-workers.

Most of us take part in some sort of team such as family units, sports teams, or work groups.

And most of us join organizations such as communities, companies, or nations.

If experts are correct, we should all spend more time increasing trust. 

But what is trust? 

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines trust as assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something. 

Stephen Covey, author of The Speed of Trust, says he prefers a simple definition: you know it when you feel it … trust means confidence.

There are many other loose definitions of trust.

But if we are going to increase trust, we need a precise definition to work from.

After reviewing hundreds of different explanations of trust, I propose we use this definition. Trust is an individual’s ability to accept risk based on his or her expectations of another thing’s behavior.

Under this definition, trust is unique to each person. And each person can apply it to any other unique thing (e.g. a person, a team, or an organization). 

For me, my trust in you is my ability to accept risk based on how I expect you to behave. 

For you, your trust in me is your ability to accept risk based on how you expect me to behave. 

With this definition, we can use reflection to learn how to increase trust in any situation. (But it does not provide a framework. That’s a topic for another article.)

For now, we can increase trust by reflecting on a simple question: why don’t I trust [something] more? Then, we can work with others to address the roadblocks we uncover.

We can also increase another person’s trust in something by asking them: Why don’t you trust [something] more? This can be more challenging. Honest answers to these questions require vulnerability. And vulnerability is risky. Thus, it requires trust. 

By defining trust, we can now reflect on and discuss how to increase it. I’ll explore this more in future articles.