As someone who is still a relatively new dba here at FNC (2 years and 19 days as of the writing of this blog), it has been a blast to learn what it is FNC does, and more importantly, HOW and WHO makes our company function.  When you’re new to a company it always takes time to decipher who does what task, and how they interact with other people.

The interaction with people is especially interesting to me.  Learning how to get things done in an work (IT) environment is always a tricky business.   People who have been in business for any length of time tend to get somewhat jaded in how we interact with other.  We tend to become distrustful of people and it affects how we respond to those same people.  In the end, processes and progress slow down as we ensure we have the requisite supporting documents (ie, emails)

Trust is an integral part of having successful working relationship.  When I was the Manager of Oracle Systems for the City of Memphis, the CIO gave us all a book entitled “The Speed of Trust”.  In the book, author Stephen Covey (author of “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”), points out that the speed at which a company can successfully manage change, is directly related to the extent in which employees trust each other to do whatever their assigned roles our.  Over the last two decades of working in IT, I’m more convinced than ever that trust is critical to being a flexible company, in terms of change, and the pace at which we can accept that change.

So…what is trust?  According to Webster’s, trust is the belief that someone or something is reliable, good, honest, effective.  On a professional level, do we typically believe the information we get from those above (management), below (subordinates), or parallel (co-workers)?  Or is our primary mode of operation one of not believing unless we have proof (emails, etc).  If we fall into the latter group, maybe we need to re-evaluate how we operate at work.  I think we become more efficient workers (and more trusting), if we follow these two steps:

1)  Overextend Trust – In many cases, you start good trusting relationship by just extending trust to people you work with, even if they don’t quite trust you yet.  Graham Greene (the author, not the former FNC IT’er), said this:  “A man becomes trustworthy when you trust him.”   Take the first step and extend trust.

2) Be trustworthy – This seems simple, but in reality, it is tough.  Being trustworthy means we do what we say we will do, and owning our mistakes.

If all companies would begin to embrace these two tenets, I think we would find that the speed at which companies facilitate change would greatly increase, while at the same time fostering a more comfortable work environment.  Once we trust each other, and start dropping our self-built walls, work can almost become….er…fun…

Have a great day!