How Can I Build Trust in a Virtual Environment?

You need confidence before you can gain trust completely

It’s helpful to keep in mind that, on average, it takes up to six months to really establish trust. But you really need confidence before you can gain trust completely.

You need to be confident in your work, in your actions, in your communication, in your decisions, and your input.

The formula for Trust

Under promise and over deliver

When it comes to building trust with team members and with clients or colleagues or whoever, it is, the basic thing is follow through on whatever you commit to. And sometimes, when we’re starting off on new opportunities, we may over commit. And that comes back to self-awareness. So, really being aware on what can I commit to, what can I deliver, because, you don’t necessarily want to be under delivering on what it is that you know you’re supposed to be coming through on.

What do they say all the time? Under promise and over deliver.

And that’s really going to help build trust amongst those that you’re working with.

Avoid office gossip

At all costs, avoid office gossip. That is a way to absolutely destroy any other techniques you’re using to build trust.

The one tip that I would like to give, as far as gossip, because it does impact a lot of women’s careers, is you don’t necessarily want to be the person that’s like, well, I don’t want to gossip with you, because now all of a sudden, you’re no longer likable. So, you want to still make sure that you’re able to maintain relationships and continue to build trust.

But my tip that I do give out to quite a few people when they ask me, what do I do if I’m in a situation where there’s just gossip and I don’t want to be part of that because I want to build trust with whomever it is that I’m with is, I just simply tell people excuse yourself from that situation.

Every time you find yourself in a situation where there’s gossip, just say, oh excuse me, I have to use the restroom, or excuse me I have to make a call. Sooner or later, they will get it, they’ll figure it out, that you don’t like to participate in gossip. Remember, you can absolutely kill any amount of trust that you’ve built by participating in gossip.