7Cs as the pillar of retention

A trust or corporate trust is a large grouping of business interests with significant market power, which may be embodied as a corporation or as a group of corporations that cooperate with one another in various ways. — FusionWorks

In the past, interpersonal relationships were created on the concept — I trust you until you will demonstrate I shouldn’t.

Today, due to competitiveness and many cultural reasons, interpersonal relationships are based on the concept — I do not trust you until you demonstrate I may.

I am not sure which theory is better, but we may surely agree that you may be an enthusiast, competent, and genius, but this means nothing for your success until others believe in you.

Any interpersonal relationship is based on trust and the relationship between employee-employer or the one between client-provider are not exceptions at all. Trust is like a safe feeling in someone’s sincerity. It is the firm belief that a company (it’s management, your colleagues and its services) retains its integrity, quality, and brand for a predictable period of time.

In practice, inspiring someone to trust you is a really hard work of mixing 7 essential elements. These are 7 ”C”-s of trust. Let’s discover them together.

First C is for CHARACTER
A company’s character, its Identity is the most difficult to fake, as this is the moral quality that manifests itself through perseverance, the firm will, and fairness. These are the primordial elements for someone to be trustworthy. One of the best ways to prove that you could be trusted is to accept when you are wrong. Everyone appreciates the courage to admit one’s own imperfection.

Second C is for COMPETENCE
It is very important to always find time for the personal and professional development of your skills. This is why, FusionWorks is always for sharing knowledge and we inspire our employees to learn continuously as learning is life, especially in our field. Competence in any field means training, reading, learning, and implementing in practice any single skill.

Nr. 3 C is for CONSOLIDATION of the company’s values 
This aspect is crucial as this is one of the first things to be observed by others. One’s first impression of your company is made in the first moments of your communication. The following moments from any discussion are for validating that first impression. This is why, when some of your employees are not sure about your company’s value, this is felt. The whole conversation will be dominated by a wrong/bad — emotions domino.

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4th C is for CONGRUENCE
Trust increases every time your actions (any employees ones) confirm your words (company-culture). The key is the harmony between verbal and non-verbal messages you and your employees spread into the world. In the lack of this harmony, your interlocutor could not believe your message and will have no trust in you as a company.

5th C is for CREDIBILITY
Credibility is the ability or power to stimulate the trust of others in your company. It means letting the person we spoke with understand that you, as a company, know very well what you are talking about and if they follow your advice, it will be good for them later. This C is the one most felt in the sales and in the recruitment field. As you will never get a super-contract or a rocket star without demonstrating your credibility.

6th C is for CONSISTENCE
A consistent company easily gains the trust of others, no matter who are those — partners, clients, candidates, or employees. It is all too well known in marketing that a brand image is not built overnight. People need time to adapt, time to test, to form opinions, and to disseminate them.

7th C equals to COMPLETENESS
People generally have a very strong desire to close the processes that have begun. This “closure” eliminates stress. The explanation is given by a subtle psychological mechanism that shows that the value of stress is directly proportional to the number of unfinished processes. More specifically, when you have 15 distinct activities to solve, you will be more stressed than if you have only one, which involves the same length of work/time to complete. On this principle, we prefer not to engage in activities that do not seem to have a clear and predictable purpose. Consequently, in order to inspire trust, it is very important that what you offer, as a company — your product or service has a beginning and an end. When people know the purpose of an idea, they are more likely to believe in it.

When employees/clients are trusting that the organization provides them with (access to) their goal, both the employee/client and the company will benefit because

a) employee trust is the reason for employees to be motivated, productive and happy. What your employees give back makes the decision to focus on employee trust easier for business leaders. Or, as for many organizations who recognize the importance, it makes employee trust a top priority.

b) client trust is crucial for successful and productive-long-collaborations. This means greater advocacy, loyalty, and engagement from clients. This sets the tone for your business, and as clients advocate, businesses will be able to attract more customers who are ready to invest in their offering.