Designed by Ken Blanchard, the ABCD trust model sets out the four elements of trust that are critical to creating and sustaining trustful relationships. They are the following ones:
Able – Demonstrate competence. Leaders who are able earn trust by solving problems,
getting results, and using their skills to help others achieve established goals.
Believable – Act with integrity. Leaders who are believable earn trust by being honest and sincere, showing respect for others, keeping confidences, not talking behind people’s backs, and admitting their own mistakes.
Connected – Care about others. Leaders who are connected earn trust by showing
interest in others, asking for input, listening, showing empathy, praising others’ efforts, and sharing about themselves.
Dependable – Maintain reliability. Leaders who are dependable are organized, timely,
accountable, and responsive to requests; they do what they say they’ll do and consistently follow up.
Ken believed that by taking care of these 4 key aspects, we’ll be building a trustworthy relationship.
An Application
Personally I come back to the ABCD trust model every time a leader asks for feedback. In fact, we were even using it as part of an assessment tool during my stay at Roche. What we did was to break down each of the elements into 7 questions or statements. Some statements related to ‘connected’ would be:
- Listen well
- Praise others’ efforts
- Show interest in others
- Ask for input
In total we had 4 elements x 7 questions per element = 28 questions. If that’s too long for you, you can always cut a few and keep the most relevant statements for each element.
In any case we’ll get to cover the most important aspects for any leader in a relatively short time, therefore the return on investment (ROI) it’s high.
CONCLUSION
As you can see the ABCD Trust Model comes as a powerful and easy to remember tool that can be pulled at any time, responding to important questions that will bring the relationships to the next level.
Want to try it out? If so, if so, please let me know how it goes!
Xavier Figueras 