Table 2 Building relationships, engagement and embodying core values of trustworthiness
Relationship-Building | Embodying Core Values | Exemplary Trust-building Quotes |
|---|---|---|
-Creating safe spaces and Providing Support -Listening well | -Being transparent | “I think that safety component also folds into transparency, because people when they’re when they feel like they’re in the loop of things and they know what’s going on, they tend to feel more safe. I think — that transparency has lent itself to keeping staff feeling informed and safe within their roles and within their teams… having reflective practice groups to provide safe spaces for people to chat; also getting supervisors trained on reflective supervision—trying to create those natural safe spaces for people to talk through any difficulties they’re having; and also just providing multiple opportunities, especially over the past year, for anonymous feedback through staff surveys asking people specifically about safety, physical safety, and emotional safety, and how they evaluate [our agency] on that.” |
“I think transparency’s a big one, and…we’ve been called out when that hasn’t happened…we were told: ‘You’re not being transparent. We need more information. We want to know what decisions are being made, and why they’re being made. And there’s a lack of transparency and that doesn’t make me feel safe and that doesn’t make me feel like I can trust you or others in this initiative.” | ||
-Providing support | -Embodying benevolence | “…our community members [and] partners knowing that we will be there to support them, it’s a way of them trusting us. Even when the process of finding funding or resources, or decisions taking longer than expected, they continue to be our partners, because they trust that we have their best interests on hand." |
-Creating safe spaces -Listening well; Creating a common language; Engaging in mutual conversation -Meeting people where they are at; Embracing diversity | “…because of the diverse community, I think there’s that culture piece, too, that [needs] understanding…because that’s also part of building trust is [being] able to create that space where people are able to communicate in their own language, in their own words…creating those welcoming spaces.… [And] cultures practice different ways of just healing and thinking about trauma, so I think it’s also understanding.” | |
-Providing support -Meeting people where they are at; Being flexible & open; Embracing diversity | -Embodying benevolence -Being transparent & honest -Demonstrating relevant expertise -Demonstrating integrity, reliability & consistency; Sticking to commitments -Being authentic, genuine & personal | “being kind, transparent, having the best interest of our community members, and being there and building those relationships at the different levels…with community members, with our staff, with our partners, with our funder.” |
“[W]hen I think of it on a one-on-one basis or that micro-sense of when they’re working with a participant, I think of it [as] this is someone who understands where this person is coming from in a way that others might not. They have this depth to their knowledge…that creates a really good foundation of trust with the people that they’re working with. And then, when I think of trust with the community or trust in a larger sense, I think it’s just consistency. It’s that we’re consistently providing these services, consistently following through with what we’re saying we’re going to be helping you with, consistently being a face in the community through outreach so you know that we’re there and nothing has changed.” | ||
“I think a lot of that comes from authenticity, and that’s why when I look at what we’re talking about, a lot of that comes from having good cultural understanding. A lot of that comes from being in a place where you’re able to support people, because you have that common knowledge.” | ||
-Conveying empathy -Providing support | -Demonstrating integrity, reliability & consistency | “[T]rust is something that is…developed between two individuals, or two entities. [Y]ou do that by showing up, by those three Cs…the compassion, the commitment, the consistency. You’re a role model.” |
-Demonstrating vulnerability -Meeting people where they are at; Being flexible & open | “I know that I have built trust, when someone is willing to be vulnerable with me, and vice versa. When I’m willing to be vulnerable with someone else, and open up to them, that’s when I know that there is a foundation of trust that has begun to build. I think that first invitation or share of vulnerability is that test of the ice when you go out on a frozen lake, and you tap it with your foot to see if it cracks.” | |
-Demonstrating vulnerability -Conveying empathy | -Being authentic, genuine & personal | “I think there’s vulnerability in creating a relationship of trust and genuineness…being able to be empathetic and I think [trust] is at the core of everything that we strive to do because without that trust, without that understanding…there’s definitely a barrier, a wall that’s created.…” |
-Engaging in mutual conversation | -Being transparent & honest -Demonstrating integrity, reliability & consistency; Sticking to commitments | “ I think, definitely, being open and transparent as much as possible. Obviously, some things you can’t share immediately. But that’s been something that we’ve always done internally with our staff, just being as transparent as possible when we get updates from DMH—sharing those with our partners as well, so they’re not left in the dark. And I think for community it’s similar…really being open and sharing…if there’s changes in funding, changes in contracting, just making sure that we’re consistently communicating with everyone with those changes. Even when we have had to shift back and forth between the ways we’re providing services to the community, our teams are very good at communicating that and describing what that’s going to look like, so the families don’t feel kind of left behind. So, they’re constantly being reassured of—and communicated with about what’s happening. Not so much on a project level, but on a service level that they understand and interact with.” |
-Demonstrating integrity, reliability & consistency; Sticking to commitments -Being transparent & honest | “…the word confidence comes to mind. When I trust somebody I’m confident in them, when I trust somebody I feel that I can rely on them, that they will bring me truth and honesty whatever the answer might be, even if the answer’s not what I want, but I can trust them to be honest with me, I can trust them to be forthright, and so to me it’s that you can count on them.” | |
-Demonstrating integrity, reliability & consistency; Sticking to commitments | “I think with trust there’s also accountability…if we want to have that trust-building and engagement, there also have to be hard conversations about how others are being held accountable, and maybe how are we being held accountable to delivering what we’re promising…. Because if you promise something or you laid out something [about] what’s going to happen, and it doesn’t, then…that trust gets broken.” |