Building Trust: Set up, be accountable, and quit making excuses – because nobody wants to hear it.
Think of a time when you were a kid, you did something wrong and your parents found out. You were forced to make a choice, right? The choice between telling the truth or telling a lie when you didn’t know if they knew what happened, or if they were relying on your account of the story.
Do you tell the truth or do you try to find a way out of it to avoid the consequences?
In the end, I think we can all agree that, telling the truth was the best option because, 9 times out of 10, they already knew what happened and were looking for you to tell them the truth. Not to mention, you could count on a harsher punishment if you tried to lie about it and they knew it.
We’re human, we all make mistakes from time to time, and that’s okay. If you forget to call somebody back, make a typo on something or forget to put someone’s correct middle initial in, don’t lie about it. It’s easy to throw out excuses, but it shows courage when you can own up, and people respect that.
The best way to build trust with your boss, coworkers or clients is to be accountable and take the hit when you do make a mistake. Your boss will appreciate the honesty and know that you care about your job and performance. Your coworkers will appreciate that you owned up to your mistake and didn’t blame them for something that wasn’t their fault. Finally, your clients will appreciate and trust you for not jumping on the excuses train after a mistake.
When you own up to your mistakes and take measures to avoid the situation from happening in the future, that is when true trust is built! Nobody wants to hear lame excuses for why something happened. They want to hear that you acknowledge that a mistake was made and want to know what you’re going to do about it.
Remember, honesty is the best policy no mater what circumstance you find yourself in.