Resilience & Trust – working hand in hand for business success

For those of you who follow my regular blogs, you’ll be left in no doubt as to the importance I attach to resilience in today’s fast-paced, modern business world.

As a quick recap resilience is, quite simply, the ability to learn from your setbacks and mistakes.

The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) - a worldwide federation of national standards bodies – defines resilience as: 'The ability of a business to absorb and adapt in a changing environment to enable it to deliver its objectives and to survive and prosper.'

Resilient small business owners learn how to turn mistakes into opportunities. They learn to look past the immediate setbacks and keep their eyes firmly on the long-term goal.

In a key speech, famed civil rights activist Martin Luther King Junior once said: “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” 

 This quote also supports how I define Resilience - "Springing Forward with Learning” . When we choose to make self-reflection a habit we will learn so much more from life’s experiences.

Whilst resilience is crucial for business success, trust is a critical component of it.

When team members trust each other, they feel supported, valued, and confident in taking risks and innovating.

Revered Scottish author and poet George Macdonald summed up the importance of trust when he said: “to be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved.”

Trust is a central part of all human relationships, including romantic partnerships, family life, and business operations. If you don’t trust your colleagues, for example, it’s much harder to benefit from their comments and advice.

How do you build Trusting relationships? Photo Mediensturmmer Unsplash

But what exactly do we mean by trust?

Here are some simple explanations.

·       Trust is a set of behaviours, such as acting in ways that depend on another;

·       Trust is a belief in a probability that a person will behave in certain ways;

·       Trust is an abstract mental attitude towards a proposition that someone is dependable;

·       Trust is a feeling of confidence and security that someone cares.

Look out for further blogs in this series – How to build trust in the workplace, The importance of building trust in the workplace, and The benefits of building trust in the workplace.

If you need further information about this approach, or any other resilience topic, please contact russell@theresiliencecoach.co.uk