By: Charles Feltman
Reviewed by: Shannon Nedza
The Premise: In the Thin Book of Trust: An Essential Primer for Building Trust at Work, executive coach, Charles Feltman offers simple effective strategies and techniques for building, repairing, and sustaining trust in the workplace. In this quick and easy read, Feltman outlines the four distinctions of trust:
- Sincerity – “I mean what I say, say what I mean, and act accordingly”
- Reliability – “You can count on me to deliver what I promise”
- Competence – “I know I can do this. I don’t know if I can do that”
- Care – “We’re in this together”
Feltman takes you through how to assess the degree of each of the four distinctions of trust within your relationships, and offers effective reflection questions so you can hone in on what areas need the most work. His highly relatable examples, sample dialogs, and even specific scripts for building trust leave you with a practical plan you can implement right away. This tiny book gets straight to the point and allows you to jump right in and get powerful, effective strategies without having to wade through pages of unnecessary information.
The Bottomline: I came across this book while listening to a Brené Brown TEDTalk about trust and she called out Charles Feltman for his wonderful definition of trust. Being a Brené Brown fan I decided to give it a go, and I was not disappointed! What I appreciated most about this book was Feltman’s ability to deliver his concepts of trust in such an engaging, relatable, and concise way. As I read the book I continually had insights into how I could implement Feltman’s principals into my own life (both professionally and personally). I especially loved the specific scripts he offered and have jotted a few down to start using… that is one of the real gems about this book, Feltman’s ability to give the reader practical take-ways throughout the entire book.
For example, it takes you step by step through how to have difficult conversations when trust has been broken in a productive, authentic, and open-minded way. This book will help you to better understand and learn to consistently demonstrate trustworthy language and behaviour, so you can earn and keep the trust of the people you work with.
The Bottomline: A great book for leaders who want practical suggestions for improving trust in the workplace and who appreciate a quick, concise read (only a couple hours!).
