Subscribe to my Feed
« When dealing with clients, think before you speak | Home | Was the Senate Ethics Committee tough enough on Roland Burris? »
Do business with people whom you trust - and who trust you
By Lauren | November 20, 2009
Continuing my Friday series on keeping your business out of court, let’s focus on an essential element of business relationships: trust.
Gallup Press just released a new book by Rodd Wagner and Gale Muller, Power of 2, that presents their five-year study of successful partnerships. According to their research, 87% of partners in good collaborations say they trust each other, while less than 3% of partners in bad collaborations do. Wagner and Muller conclude that the inefficiencies and frustrations of working with people we don’t trust are so severe that they outweigh whatever benefit the collaboration can offer. It’s better to work alone than in a low-trust relationship.
Wagner and Muller are probably correct from a general business perspective. They’re definitely right in terms of litigation risk management. Here’s why.
When you do business with someone you mistrust (let’s call him Al), your instinct will be to inspect, double-check, and second-guess far beyond what you would ordinarily do. Your guardedness will quickly become apparent to Al, who may think, “She doesn’t trust me anyway, so why should I keep knocking myself out to prove her wrong? If that’s going to be her attitude, I might as well give her a reason to be so suspicious.” If something does go wrong you’ll be spring-loaded to blame Al, fairly or not, making it all too easy for a simple slip-up to explode into a lawsuit. If Al’s actions cause someone else to sue you, your suspicious behavior becomes Exhibit A to prove the plaintiff’s point that you shouldn’t have worked with Al in the first place. And remember, you’re fallible too. If you’re so busy monitoring Al that you miss your own mistakes, you can end up defending yourself in court while Al enjoys a self-righteous snicker.
Here’s the bottom line: your business relationships can help keep you out of court or put you there that much faster. If your instincts tell you that a prospective colleague, employee, contractor or customer isn’t trustworthy, think very carefully before you bring that person on board. It’s very hard to pay attention to where you’re going if you spend all your time watching your back - or your partner.
Topics: Business Ethics, Lauren Recommends, Professional Ethics, Risk Management, business communications, ethics |