Analyst Insight: By minding the trust gap, companies can ensure that they stay aligned with trading partners — fueling the bottom line, keeping team members engaged and allowing organizations to be proactive in maintaining long-term bonds.

A University of Tennessee-SAP study — which involved 34 companies — found that team members working in “good” relationships used mostly positive adjectives (85%) such as Aligned, Collaborative and Trustworthy to describe their relationship. 

But when team members were describing “typical” relationships, they used positive words only 63% of the time. Instead, they used words like Frustrating, Restrictive and Distant. And in 9% of cases, they used even more negative words such as Difficult, Strained, and even Dysfunctional. It’s far too easy for trading partners to find themselves worlds — and words— apart, and for the trust gap to be ever widening.

The hidden costs of trading partner relationships can pile up quickly. Trust can shift to distrust, and that distrust can come through in friction, delays, lapses and restrictions. When trust is diminished between parties, participants pull back and become more focused on “what’s in it for me” instead of finding win-win solutions.

Distrust is an insidious weed in a garden, and a growing sense of it can make companies and team members less trusting in other relationships. In essence, a loss of trust means a loss of happiness.

But how can a company recognize the gaps and take steps to create healthier relationships? University of Tennessee researchers developed a Compatibility and Trust (CaT) assessment, which quantifies relationship health across five dimensions: focus, team orientation, communication, innovation and trust. Unlike one-dimensional or narrow assessment tools, the CaT allows each partner to reflect inward while taking true stock in the relationship and sharing how they really feel. While results may not be as rosy as you would like, it’s essential to know where you are at so you can begin the process to get on the same page. 

Outlook: By taking stock of the way trading partners view one another and how they are viewed by others, companies can focus on getting back on the same page and finding common ground to keep their goals aligned. By minding the trust gap — not sugarcoating matter, not ignoring partner concerns, and being completely open to whatever emerges in the assessment — companies can explore and address the issues holding back their trading partnerships.

Resource Link: www.haslam.utk.edu/people/profile/kate-vitasek