Thursday, November 3, 2011

Balancing Life and Work: Trust

Trust is the backbone of any relationship – and an important part of creating balance between work and life. While researching the concept of trust, I was not surprised to find lots of negative activity surrounding it. Songs have been written about the lack thereof, counseling sites filled with resolving issues, and then there are the talk shows filled with distrust.

But how do we address trust in a positive fashion to help us find balance in our lives?

At Work: Surround yourself with trustworthy people. When working with new colleagues or hiring employees, do your homework on them. Have they been recommended? And by whom? Also, use your gut-o-meter. If it has a glitch of doubt, move on. Building trust with your co-workers is critical to developing a strong, successful team – and helps tremendously in achieving balance.

At Home: It’s critical to foster an environment of trust with those people who are most important to you. Family members and spouses must establish absolute trust in each other and know that they are in it as a team for the long-term.

In either situation, if trust is damaged, the road back is long and rocky. But trust works both ways. Both parties must have a mutual sense of trust in each other. How do you make yourself more trustworthy? Here are a few qualities that will help:

-          Be reliable to those around you.

-          Be punctual at home and work.

-          Tell the truth and don’t lie just to please others.

-          Listen and understand people.

-          Keep things private that were told to you in confidence.

So, keep it simple, trust others with good probability. And by all means, work on being trustworthy. Building mutual trust and support of your team – at work and at home – is critical to finding balance in both.