Can I trust you?
A lot of trust is based on integrity and reliability. People want to know you will do what you say you will do. I think we usually intend to do what we say we will do, but sometimes things come up that we didn’t expect, or it is more difficult, or whatever. The key thing in maintaining trust is to let someone know the change in outcome as soon as possible. Whenever someone can’t deliver on what they promised, we expect a call or an email or something to tell us there may be a delay or that it can’t be done. Most people will forgive you if you just let them know ahead of time to change their expectations. That gives people enough time to alter their plans if possible. However, when we expect something that doesn’t happen and it feels like the other person blew us off, we lose trust with that person for the next time. I think we expect reliability but we are willing to be flexible, albeit more flexible on some things than others, if the other person gives us the courtesy of letting us know and apologizing before, not after.
