Trust or Faith?
The distinction is not merely semantic, but rather a profound difference in feelings and behavior, first towards oneself and then towards others.
To trust is to have confidence in one’s own or others’ resources. TRUST is an attitude towards oneself or others, produced by a positive evaluation of facts, circumstances and relationships which produces a feeling of security and peace of mind.
To build or increase Trust, it is necessary to do everything possible to be worthy of it, beginning with making and keeping commitments, both to oneself and to others.
Trust is not free; it must be earned and negotiated within the context of relationships with others, taking into account the beliefs, fears and the unspoken things that limit our and others’ ability to choose, control risk and act responsibly.
Trust is based on a feeling of security, the certainty that we can rely on our own or another person’s abilities. It means feeling comfortable in a given situation; it is the confidence that we will make it through. Trustworthy is the adjective corresponding to Trust.
To have Faith, conversely, means to believe with absolute conviction in the truth of an assumption. FAITH represents full belief based on the authority of others rather than on positive evidence, in a one-way relationship rather than a relationship between parties.
To have faith means to defer to someone’s benevolence, to surrender oneself to someone’s protection, to give someone control over the fate, care or protection of oneself or something that belongs to us. Faithful is the adjective that corresponds to Faith.
In companies where Trust is lacking, people have Faith! They maintain a passive attitude, a defensive posture, they are more careful to protect themselves from mistakes at the expense of experimenting with innovation or expressing their own ideas, limiting initiative. By contrast, a corporate climate that allows for relationships based on Trust benefits the processes associated with delegation and accountability, with a correspondingly positive impact on autonomy, creativity, motivation and thus productivity. A culture of Trust is more powerful than one of control!
Is there Trust or Faith in your work context? Do you trust or have faith? Are you Trustworthy or Faithful?
With Business Coaching focused on behavioral and relational skills, you can create, secure and improve interpersonal relationships and consequently Trust.
Author: Valentina Reiner
Valentina Reiner is Certified Business Coach (CBC™) by Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC), European Individual Accreditation (EIA) Coach/Mentor at Senior Practitioner Level by European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC), Neuromanager Positivo Applicato (NPA®) by Apprendo Academy
Sources:
Continuare Assieme. Il Family Business oltre il passaggio generazionale (“Continuing Together: The Family Business After the Generational Handover”). Alessandro Scaglione, Guerini Next, 2020
“You are not like the others, you are you” (quote), Valentina Reiner, The Deeping, July 2022
The autotelic self, Valentina Reiner, The Deeping, June 2022
