TRUST + DATA = TRULY GREAT COMPANIES

Trust is a deeply human concept. It’s formed through relationships, which are inextricably tied to our emotions, perceptions, and even our intuition. But just because trust is rooted in the intangible doesn’t mean it can’t be quantified.  
To build a high-trust company (HTC), founders need to assess the dynamics within our organizations to ensure we have foundations built on high-trust relationships. So, I’ve created a simple “trust score” equation for assessing and measuring trust that helps us have well-founded, honest conversations about the relationships within our companies.

Read more in Trust Part 4: The Math of Trust.

As I’ve mentioned, there are three dimensions of trust: character, connection, and competency. By assigning a rating to each dimension and multiplying those ratings to achieve a trust score, we can turn trust into data. While this data is still subjective, it provides a valuable tool for quantifying the essential element of trust. Using this equation also encourages us to thoughtfully evaluate and articulate our opinions on someone's character, a process we might otherwise avoid — until we’re forced to.

It would be simple to assign a 0–10 score to each dimension, but I don’t think that’s appropriate because each dimension is so different. Here’s how I suggest assessing each dimension (and note that order matters here):

Character: Yes (1) or No (0). (This is the first score because if you’re rating someone a 0 here, why even think about the other scores?)

Connection: 0–100%. (Use this as a guide: 50% means no real connection, 100% is a great connection, and 0% is a horrible connection.) Since this is a percentage, express it as a decimal in the equation.

Competency: 0–100. (Note that this is a number, not a percentage.)

Using this formula, you’ll get a total trust score of anywhere from 0–100. Here’s an example: Imagine you’ve just built a new leadership team of experts you’re confident have the skills to build, run, and scale your company. You’re starting your relationship with these new team members assuming their good character, so that’s a “yes” or a 1 for character in the equation. You carefully assessed their competency during the hiring process, so that’s a 100 on competency. Since you've been working together for only a short time and have yet to build strong connections outside of Core Values, you answer 80% for connection. In this scenario, your trust score equation would look like this:

Trust score = 1 x .80 x 100 = 80

This means your new team’s total trust score is 80 out of 100. Simple, right?

PERSPECTIVES

“Errors using inadequate data are much less than those using no data at all.” — Charles Babbage

“The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.”
― Ernest Hemingway

MARK MY WORDS

The minimum score acceptable within your organization is up to you. For me, I need at least 80% for the connection and competency scores. Keep in mind that you can create your own rubric and guidelines for this tool. For example, there may be some sub-categories, such as Core Values, where you have zero tolerance for a low score. Decide what’s most important to you, your Vision, and your company, and customize your trust score requirements from there.

Trust is complicated. People are even more complicated. And while there’s no exact science to ensuring positive, productive human relationships, we can leverage the tools and principles available to us in both our personal and professional lives to improve alignment and strengthen our interpersonal connections.

It all comes down to this: Healthy, long-term relationships thrive when there is mutual trust along with complementary needs, goals, values, interests, resources, and competencies. Once you establish an ideal (or simply acceptable) score range that works for your company, you can use trust score data to solve problems, make decisions, and ensure you have the right people in the right seats. All of this is what will keep you on the path toward accomplishing truly great things as a high-trust company.

TUNE IN

This episode is all about the framework of Competency, Commitment, and Capacity (CCC). Learn how CCC is used to assess whether a person is well-suited for their role in an organization, a concept I like to call "right person, right seat."