What’s the default position of your Trust button?

It was a few days back I noticed this rack in our apartment complex. Save water, use tissue boxes did not seem compelling. But what raised my curiosity was something else.

The provider had clearly noted the price of each tissue box and kept a box where the buyers can deposit the money against their purchases. There was no one to woman(purposefully used instead of man to show that I am not gender biased😊)the entire set up.

A few thoughts crossed my inquisitive mind.

Wow, they trust the people around to possess the honesty and integrity to take the tissue box and deposit the money?

This brought we to the question of this blog.

What is our default key position for ‘Trusting or not trusting someone who you have no prior connections with?’

Do you trust her by default till she does something untrustworthy? Or the other way around. In the above scenario the vendor seemed to trust the apartment complex residents by default.

The immediate realm to start my investigation was myself. What is my default trust position?

As in many cases, an assumption is in order - We don’t have any prior data about the person.

I found that in my mind I am always looking for what I will call as anchors or references. Can I anchor my ‘proposed approach to this person - to something or someone? Do I know someone who has some connection with her and how how trustworthy is that connection? 

Few scenarios came to my mind. And let’s keep this official and limit it to corporate set ups than domestic though it is difficult for one to wear multiple hats at office and outside.

Scenario 1 – I just took over as the manager of a new team

Default position of the Trust button – Trust them.

Anchor is the organization. I trust the organization I work for. Hence, I trust the new team. This can change over a period when you have closer interactions that lead to more immediate anchors or references. 

Scenario 2 – I must work with a colleague from a different team for a project

Default position of the trust button – Trust her.

Anchor is the organization. If I have a more reliable anchor like her manager or a team member of mine who I trust, then the default position may change. Is there a better anchor that is her competence? (I have seen her delivering on outcomes earlier). Finally trust is about Competence and Character.

Hence, I tend to think my default position for trust is positive. Trust them till proven otherwise. What’s yours?

Coming to the Tissue paper example I wrote about earlier, what was the default anchor for the vendor?

Was it some resident? Was it some belief or hypothesis that people in this community seems to be doing well economically? Can that lead to trusting them? As one of my friends was opining, it could as well have to do with the culture as we have seen similar arrangements in other countries. Extending the same stream of thought to this incident does this mean in ‘the culture inside the complex’ is in some way different to that experienced outside? Will this experiment happen at a mall in India? Can we do that at a shopping complex by public road? In a commercial park, say Technology park?

As these thoughts use up my brain processing power, would love to hear your thoughts. What’s your default Trust Key position ? Does that change often ? What governs that change? Do economics and culture have a bearing on creating an anchor that helps to set the default ion of your trust position?

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All views expressed above are mine and have nothing to do with the views of my employers - past, present and future.

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