The Dividends of Trustworthiness

You had an innovative idea. You did your homework to show that it would be valuable and practical. But the product-development team dismissed it.

Was it the idea? Or was it you?

Your proposal might have been great, but the reality is that companies are intensely social environments – product managers respond as much to the people suggesting the ideas as to the concepts themselves. Decision-makers react positively to certain tactics of persuasion and negatively to others. But above all, they respond to your trustworthiness.

The dividends of trustworthiness can be huge. In a recent article in the Journal of Marketing, author Ashwin J. Joshi of York University’s Schulich School of Business showed that decision-makers are more likely to find your arguments persuasive if they trust you. And your trustworthiness will mitigate their negative reactions to any boneheaded tactics you might pull, such as being too pushy.

When I set out to influence someone, I usually think only about the importance of speaking clearly and forcefully – plus, what I’m wearing. But I believe that trustworthiness is deeper than any of those things – and it isn’t something you can cook up at the last minute. Trustworthiness has to do with your history.

Colleagues judge you on the basis of your past exposure to them. They remember things you’ve done in all manner of contexts, from last year’s holiday party to last week’s staff meeting. On a subconscious level, they evaluate you along three dimensions: benevolence (do you have good intentions toward them?), integrity (do you adhere to principles they find acceptable?) and capability (can you do what you intend?).

Those three simple questions don’t give you much room to hide. Attempts to influence people, whether supervisors or product-development managers, don’t occur in a vacuum. They take place within the context of pre-existing relationships, however minimal. One of the most valuable assets you can build in an organization is, in Joshi’s words, “a track record of behavior that demonstrates benevolence, integrity and capability.”

Distributed by The New York Times Syndicate