Break down trust with the Trust Equation.
How do you get people to trust you? Using the Trust Equation, participants break down the components of trust, understand what contributes to their Trust Quotient, and identify practical ways to increase it.
Trust is not binary, and it is not fixed. The Trust Equation breaks it into four components: credibility, reliability, intimacy and self-orientation. Participants explore each dimension, reflect on where they are strong and where they might be inadvertently undermining trust, and develop strategies to shift the balance. The session works at both individual and team level: understanding one's own trust profile is the starting point, and the conversation often extends to how the team as a whole can build a higher-trust culture.
Trust is not binary, and it is not fixed. The Trust Equation gives participants a specific framework for understanding the components of trust and how each one shapes how others experience them. Participants leave with a clearer picture of their own trust profile, including where they are naturally strong and where they may be inadvertently undermining trust without realising it.
This helps each person build an honest picture of their own trustworthiness using the Trust Equation. Introduce the four components, give people time to rate themselves, have them compare notes in pairs, then close by looking at what they will do with what they have found.
Present the four components. Credibility: do people believe you know what you are talking about, and do you say what you mean? Reliability: do you do what you say you will, and are you consistent? Intimacy: do people feel safe sharing things with you, and do you treat information with care? Self-orientation: how focused are you on your own interests compared with those of others? High self-orientation is the single biggest reducer of trust. The formula is trust equals credibility plus reliability plus intimacy, all divided by self-orientation. Self-orientation sits in the denominator, so even high scores on the other three are undermined when it is high.
Ask people to rate themselves honestly on each dimension from one to ten, then consider where they are strongest, where they might be losing trust without realising it, and which dimension would make the biggest difference if they shifted it. Give them enough time to sit with this honestly. The self-orientation dimension is often the most uncomfortable and the most revealing.
Participants share their reflections with a partner. The conversation is usually richer with a specific prompt: tell your partner the one dimension where you think you are most likely to be inadvertently undermining trust, and why. In a team setting this can open into a group conversation about whether anything they have heard resonates at a team level.
Summarise: trust is a profile, everyone has a different shape, and every dimension can be worked on. Bridge to the closing session by asking each person, now that they have a clearer picture of their profile, what they will actually do with it.
Use Trust In Me when people treat trust as fixed and you want each person to see it as something they can shape. The Trust Equation breaks trust into four components, showing where each person is strong and where they may be quietly undermining it.
Using this tool with a skilled facilitator means that discussions are focused, time is used efficiently, and the group moves toward consensus, making the session productive and impactful.
