It is already more than three years ago that Jan Terlouw gave his glowing speech at DWDD about a decreasing mutual trust in our society and the far-reaching consequences thereof. The string from the letterbox.
I often have to think about his message when working with entrepreneurs and their teams. Then I see what a lack of trust causes for ballast; how energy is wasted on useless things and discussions. How necessary then suddenly detailed (contractual) agreements and rules are about anything and everything.
Fortunately, I often see the opposite in entrepreneurial land. Maybe that’s because of my positive attitude, but still…. then I see the flow. How smoothly things go when there is mutual trust between the two founders of a company: having enough say, leaving room for each other and appreciating each other’s qualities. How efficiently the work is tackled if the relationships between the team members are good: know who can do what best and are open in the feedback to each other.
Doing business is people work. And trust in a company is about the relationships between those people. That is expensive and vulnerable. Expensive because it takes a lot of time, energy and attention to build this trust together. And because it produces results for your company and job happiness for the team members. Vulnerable because anything can happen that undermines confidence. And suddenly there is sand between the wheels and the oiled machine is faltering.
Cherish the string from the letterbox, because trust comes on foot, but leaves on horseback!