TRUST Model

Last semester in my leadership class, my group and I developed the TRUST Model for our Leadership project. The intention was simple: every topic we covered throughout the course dealt with interpersonal relationships, but none of them addressed how to build the most important part of any relationship, that is, trust. So this model helps people to first become a trustworthy individual and then move into trusting relationships with others.

Here’s how the TRUST acronym works:

• Talented
• Reliable
• Unifying Mission
• Supportive
• Transparent

Imagine there are two magnifying glasses hovering over the word TRUST. The first magnifying glass includes the first 3 letters which stand for Talented, Reliable, and Unifying Mission. This is the Personal Lens. The second magnifying glass includes the last 3 letters which stand for Unifying Mission, Supportive, and Transparent. This is the Interpersonal Lens.

So to become a trustworthy person, it would help to become talented at the specific task you’re focusing on and reliable showing up each day with the same vigor and effectiveness. Next, it’s time to move into relationships with others. To get other people to place their trust in you, being supportive of them and honest are musts. To tie everything altogether, it’s important to always consider the Mission, the cause greater than yourself, that unites you and your teammate together.

This is how to become a Trustworthy person that can enter into trusting relationships with others.