What Can a Hot Dog Vendor Teach You About the Value of Trust in the Workplace?

It’s that time of year again! The next two days we’ll be blogging from GovLoop and YGL’s Next Generation of Government Training Summit. Follow along @NextGenGov and read more blog posts here.

A hot dog vendor in New York City realized he was losing business because customers would give up on waiting in long lines and go somewhere else. So he decided to place a basket of money on his cart, allow customers to make their own change, and trust they would be honest.

The result? Shorter lines, more business, larger tips, and happier customers; because after all, people like to be trusted.

This is an example Stephen M.R. Covey uses when speaking about his book, “The Speed of Trust” and that was shared at the Next Generation of Government Training Summit by Barry Rellaford, co-author of “A Slice of Trust.”

The connection between speed and trust is easy to make. Just take a second to imagine a coworker that you don’t trust. Do you find yourself:
  • Checking their work?
  • Not sharing ideas or bringing up problems?
  • Having to find other ways to get things done?
  • Second guessing their decisions?
  • Being extra careful with what you say around them?
How much time do you spend on these types of behaviors and at what cost?
  • Stifled creativity?
  • Redundancy?
  • Miscommunication?
  • Missed opportunities?
This list could go on, but you get the point. So how do you develop trust?
“The Speed of Trust” describes 13 behaviors of a high trust leader:
  1. Talk straight
  2. Demonstrate respect
  3. Create transparency
  4. Right wrongs
  5. Show loyalty
  6. Deliver results
  7. Get better
  8. Confront reality
  9. Clarify expectations
  10. Practice accountability
  11. Listen first
  12. Keep committments
  13. Extend trust
Get ready to move at lightning speed.

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