Moving to a World Where Trust is the Currency of Business

I recently read a paper analysing Australia’s possible future workplaces and workforce development requirements where 3 potential future scenarios for Australia in 2025 were explored. The paper, builds on the Shell Global Scenarios and focuses on the Australian context and, it makes for very interesting reading. Of course it poses more questions than it answers however; one thing that really stood out for me was the importance and emphasis on trust. In all 3 scenarios put forward for 2025 there is an emphasis on relationships, social networking and a strong and definitive building of and focus on personal and business trust at all levels.

It seems that we are moving towards a ‘Trust Economy’ perhaps fuelled, in part by the blurring of boundaries between work and social networks where relationship are becoming the dominant currency and return of influence is becoming the new ROI. I know my own team constantly move back and forth between work related online networks and their own social networks where the line or boundary between either is definitely blurred or less real. Their communication channels are all open all the time. More and more often I receive work related communications from a team member sent from a club or a bar after midnight!

In preparing for a session on project management, I came across an article written by Michael Aucoin titled ‘How Trust Fuels Agility’ and in it he talks about the importance of trust in project teams and the need to foster an environment that promotes respect and trust. Stephen Covey says about trust: ‘Trust is the highest form of human motivation. It brings out the very best in people.’

There are many articles on trust and its importance in the workplace yet I wonder how we prepare ourselves and coach our people towards this values driven paradigm? How prepared are we to move to a trust based economy and economy built on relationships and integrity? Can we train people or is this part of society values & beliefs inculcated in our children from birth?

Cheers,

Helen Sabell

You can download the above mentioned report “Australia 2025: Three Global Scenarios” here.