Blog Entry

Last Thursday, I had the pleasure of finally meeting Beth Kanter in the flesh at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, where she is serving as a visiting scholar.

I’ve known of Beth and her work for years through the tight-knit nonprofit technology community, where she is a superstar. I’ve followed her on her blog, on Twitter, and on Facebook. I’ve referred her to others, including donors.

I’ve heard people say over and over through the years that you can’t build trust over the Internet, that you need to meet people face-to-face in order to truly trust them. Well, I trusted Beth before I ever met her. I even trusted her enough to refer her to others. The question is why?

Why is trust so important? How do you build it? And what role does technology play in building trust?

Driving in the Developing World

Driving in Kano, Nigeria.

Some of my biggest epiphanies about trust have come in my work in developing countries, where cultural differences have helped highlight how much good collaboration depends on trust. One of the best examples of this is how we drive.

Driving in Nigeria is like a traffic jam without the standstill. People weave in-and-out of traffic at full speed. Some of the roads have painted lines and dividers, but as far as I can tell, they are purely decorative.

In the U.S., we are taught to drive defensively. In Nigeria, they learn to drive skillfully. You can’t afford to wait for an opening or hope that someone will wait for you to complete a lane change or a turn, because they won’t.

Last November, my Nigerian colleague, Yahaya Hashim, came to Los Angeles for the ILA conference. As an L.A. native, I took it upon myself to show him the local surroundings in my car. As I drove, I was surprised to see Yahaya flinching on several occasions. While driving in L.A. may intimidate those from other cities, it should have been a piece of cake for a Nigerian. After seeing him flinch while taking an ordinary right turn, I finally asked him what was wrong.

Dr. Yahaya Hashim of dRPC.

As it turned out, I was turning right at the same time as a car in the opposing direction was turning left. I turned into the right-most lane, and the other car simultaneously turned into the lane to my left. Neither of us thought much of it. I trusted that the other car would not try to go into my lane. Yahaya, coming from a different world and world-view, did not share that trust.

In the U.S., we trust that people will obey driving rules. We trust that the water served to us in restaurants is potable. We trust that the change that we receive from stores is not counterfeit. We trust that our buildings and bridges are sturdy and safe. Imagine what it would be like if we didn’t trust in all these things.

Trust is empowering. It is the underpinning of successful groups, both large and small. Trust frees us to do things that would otherwise not be possible. It’s hard to appreciate the importance of trust… until it goes away.

Building Trust

How do we gain trust in the first place? To some extent, I think that most people Assume Good Faith until proven otherwise. (In fact, cooperation theory suggests that this is the best strategy for working with others. Not coincidentally, it is a core principle for the Wiki community. More on this later.)

Good faith is bolstered by other things. I had never met Beth before last Thursday, but I trusted her because my friends and colleagues trust her (trust by proxy). I trusted her because she is transparent with her work, and I’ve had a chance to evaluate it first-hand (trust by transparency). I trusted her even more after breaking bread with her, listening to her smart questions, and discovering how delightful she was (trust by relationship-building).

During my Packard Foundation talk, I stressed the importance of relationship-building for building trust and catalyzing collaboration in networks. Beth tweeted:

a lot of trust in networks is built over food and drink

Valdis Krebs responded:

even more is built over task/work/project

It’s important not to lose sight of this. First, trust is contextual. You might trust that a person is a good friend, but that doesn’t mean that person is a good roommate, a good partner, or a good colleague.

Second, trust is built through experience. The more you work with people, the more you see people fulfill their commitments, the more you trust them.

When I design workshops, I jokingly promise, “No trust falls!” I actually like trust falls. I love creating experiences where people learn to recognize the importance of trust. The problem is, I could fall backwards into someone’s arms a thousand times, and that won’t make me trust that person any more if he or she has repeatedly flaked out on me. Breaking bread with someone might convince me that he or she is a good person, but it tells me nothing about whether that person is an effective, competent worker.

Three Lessons

I think there are three lessons here.

First, Assume Good Faith. Society works because we trust people we don’t know. If you are constantly second-guessing people you have to work with, you will not have an effective working relationship.

Second, Relationship-Building Matters. You are more likely to trust people you know. Building relationships is an important and underappreciated strategy for catalyzing collaboration in networks.

Third, Work Matters More. Good faith and strong relationships are rendered meaningless if you don’t do your work.

Note that none of things require face-to-face interaction. In fact, you could make a strong argument that in some situations, online interaction is a better way to build trust. If I walk into a storefront, and the storeowner is smiling and looks friendly, I might be inclined to trust him or her. But looking friendly is a poor reason for trusting someone. I would have a much better reason to trust a merchant on eBay with a perfect rating and thousands of comments raving about how good he or she is.

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