16 Powerful Ways To Build Trust & Credibility in People

Building trust is very important in today’s life whether it is a workplace, or relationships, or a team, or friends or family. Trust is the most expensive thing in this world, once we lose it, it becomes very difficult to get it again. And this difficulty becomes more when we meet someone for the first time. In this article of My English Lobby, we will know ‘How we can build trust and credibility in people?’ and ‘How confidently represent ourselves in front of them?’

It’s just not a quote by Stephen Covey. It has some meaning in our life. Trust is not such a thing that if we give any input, then we will get the result, rather trust is a feeling that makes one person unbreakable relationship with another person.

Trust is one such most valuable asset we have. If we want to live freely, then we need to have faith in ourselves as well as in others. Without it, we cannot do anything.

16 Powerful Strategies For Building Trust & Credibility

We keep meeting someone every day in our life, in such a situation, we cannot trust everyone. The same condition is also for the person who meets us. It is very difficult to trust someone at first sight. But there are some things which we can include in our good habits and make a good impression on the other person. 

The points given in this article are taken from various sources on the Internet such as WikiHow, Inc. and Live Your True Story.

But before we go about Powerful Ways To Build Trust and Credibility in people very easily, let’s know what the benefits of trust can be.

Benefits of Trust

The direct meaning of a person trusting another person is that either he is feeling insecure or he needs you more. Here are some Benefits of Trust.

• Makes you effective: Having trust makes a big difference in your personality. You become influential and people look to you for your advice. They do not think it right to do anything without your advice or recommendation.
• You get information: When you trust someone, then the person with you becomes secure and he starts sharing everything with you, from which you get to learn a lot.
• Reduces stress: When you trust someone, the stress of your daily life is reduced. For example, if you meet with a friend every day in the evening and talk to him, your stress level throughout the day decreases.
• Avoids big problems: By having trust, you avoid many big problems. The person you trust tells you about his experiences and mistakes, from which you learn a lot.
• Become self-reliant: Trust makes you self-reliant. If someone believes in you that you will do that work, then you also start believing in yourself and your steps start moving towards self-reliance.

So these were the benefits of some trust, Now let’s know ‘How we can build trust in people’…

1.) Find Mutual Connections that you have in Common

It has often been seen that you feel comfortable talking with people whose friends are mutual. This is not a coincidence but a science. This term is called ‘Triadic Closure”, which tells us that two people are more likely to be close when a third person is in between them is common. This is the reason that when we accept someone’s friend request on Facebook, first we see the list of their mutual friends. In a case study, it has been found that if a person has more than 11 mutual friends, then the chances of accepting a friend request increase by 80%.

Key Point Trust comes in people only when we stay connected with any of their friends or close ones. This also makes our personality more attractive.

2.) Greet Warmly

You cannot make your place in someone’s heart in the first meeting. But you can welcome them warmly. Do not forget that nothing in this world is more infectious than a smile. So whenever you meet someone, smile. Whenever you talk to someone, do it by calling their name. This increases the attention and creates a more sense of trust in the people.

Yes, it is a different thing that in today’s time we live by wearing a mask but learn to smile with our eyes. When we talk to someone with a smile, there is a lot of change in the way we speak, due to which there is a lot of impact on the other.

Key Point We are identified by the way we meet people and talk to them. Greeting warmly and talking with a smile makes you confident and attractive. This increases the chances to build people’s trust in you.

3.) Admit Your Mistakes

No matter how perfect you go, you are bound to make mistakes. It is said that man is an effigy of mistakes, that is, he often makes mistakes. So whenever you make a mistake, learn to accept it. People are aware that no person is perfect. And in such a situation, when you try to show yourself as perfect, then they start losing trust in you.

We should come to accept our mistakes and at the same time, we should also share them with others. Due to this people feel that we are sharing our experiences and we are also like those people who make mistakes.

In a psychology study, it has been found that similar people are more likely to trust each other. If you try to make yourself look good enough or perfect, people will lose trust in you. They will not be able to see you as their own, rather they will prefer to stay away from you.

By doing this, there is a huge difference between you and them and it becomes very difficult for them to trust you. Keep in mind that the first condition to build trust is Equality and not Superiority or Inferiority.

Key Point To Earn & Build trust in people is not less than a challenge in our lives. In such a situation, we should show ourselves as we are. People never trust us by showing ourselves as over smart or perfect because they know well that “Nobody is perfect in the world.“

4.) Mirroring Body Language

It would probably sound very strange to hear that by cutting a copy of someone’s body language, how can we win their trust. But in a study, it has been proved that mirroring someone’s body language increases the feeling of trust in another person.

We can make this clear through an example. If a person is sitting on the table in front of you in the same posture with both his hands in front, then we should also sit in the same posture and listen to his words. If he uses eye contact in a specific way, try to emulate it.

Key Point As we have mentioned earlier, people feel more comfortable seeing or meeting people of their kind. Similarly mirroring body language increases the chances of the other person trusting you and making him feel comfortable.

5.) Talk Softly & Slowly

Yes, if you want to build trust & credibility in anyone then you have to change the way you speak. Many people go on speaking their words constantly. No one likes such people. People who are nervous or scared often speak their words in a fast way.

Whenever you meet someone, you should have a better style of speaking your words. Our way of speaking also affects the people to a great extent. Talking softly and slowly shows your calm nature and it also ensures that you have patience. Talking Slowly and pausing your conversations makes your talking style very effective. 

Key Point Whenever we meet someone, we are identified by our talking style. Talking slowly and softly enhances our personality and makes us confident. Another advantage of this is that we do not deviate from our track while talking. Isn’t it interesting!

6.) Keep Your Words and Promise

To build trust, it is most important that you should keep your words and promises. People believe in you that you will do what you are saying. Because of this, they handle some of their work on you in the hope that you will complete that work. And they become stress-free until that work is completed. In such a situation, if you do not complete that work, then they feel bad and their trust in you starts decreasing.

That’s why you must keep to your words and your promise. We shouldn’t break anyone’s hope, because ‘Hope makes Trust stronger’. It is better to show ourselves as we are rather than perfect in front of others. If you are not able to do any work, then it should be told so that he does not lose his trust in you.

Key Point Our words put a great effect on others, so we should speak our words carefully. In excessive excitement, we should not say something that we cannot fulfil. By making excuses, again and again, we lose our existence in the eyes of others and people stop trusting us.

7.) Ask Great Questions

Everyone is interesting. Every human has a story. What seems boring may also have a backstory or a story to surprise you. If you want to know something about someone, then ask them interesting questions. Avoid asking questions that make them feel bad. Their responses to your questions may be different.

Great questions encourage people to share their feelings and go deeper with their answers. Don’t just ask ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ type questions. These make the conversation boring. Truly sharing build Trust. So start building trust by knowing and giving them a chance to know you too by asking great questions.

Key Point Whenever we try to know about someone, the first question that comes to our mind is that What should we ask? Or How to start? This is a normal thing and it happens to all of us. Great questions make people secure and inspire a lot. So ask a little but ask great questions so that you can earn and build trust in people.

8.) If You Want Others To Trust You, You Must First Trust Them

Establishing trust between two people is no less than a challenge. When we share our secrets with someone, it shows that we trust that person. So if you want to trust a person, then, first of all, you should trust him.

We must accept the fact that trust gets stronger and deeper over time. So let this process happen sequentially. Trusting them first makes them secure and reliable.

Key Point Trust is an important aspect of building relationships in life. For this, we have to make ourselves as we expect from others. This work is very challenging for both, so it is better to give some time to it rather than be in a hurry.

9.)  Be a Good Listener

Showing disinterest breaks the art of trust. When someone is talking to us, at that time when we do not pay attention to his words, then the chances of him trusting us become less. This often happens when we talk to someone, in such a situation, we start looking at our mobile phone or looking around, due to which the other person starts to realize that you are not paying attention to his words.

While not doing this, we should focus on his words, then only we can assure him that we trust his words. Here are some tips by which you can do this. Whenever someone talks to you, keep eye contact with him. Try to listen to his words completely. Don’t interrupt his talk. When he finished his talking, don’t ask questions right away. Wait for a moment and give your response then ask questions.

Key Point There are many aspects to trust, listening carefully is also one of them. When we listen to someone with great love and attention, then the other person starts to trust us because he understands that we are trusting his words.

10.) Take Time When Making Decision

One of the reasons for the breakdown of many trusts is that a person agrees to do some work but he is not able to do it on time. By doing this, the other person feels bad and his trust in you slowly starts to break.

This happens when you feel that you have a lot of time and you will do that work. But when you take that work into your hands then you realize that you are burdened. One reason for this is that you are not fully organized. You haven’t organised your time properly.

So, before doing this in the future, think about whether you have enough time for that task or not. If you are not able to do that work, then you should say “NO” to it at that time. For a while, the other person will feel bad but he will soon understand your problem. By doing this, He will trust you more because you told him the truth &  the reason behind this, and not kept him in the darkness.

Key Point Think for a moment before taking any decision. Decisions in a hurry sometimes lead to bad results. Therefore, take a wise decision so that you too do not suffer and the other person does not feel bad either. Relationships are not made again and again, so it becomes our responsibility to take care of them and in such a situation, only the right decisions show us responsible.

11.) Just Be Yourself

You can never build trust by forcing someone. If you do so, you run the risk of being deceitful and fake in the eyes of others. If you want to show yourself as authentic, then just be yourself. Show yourself as you are. Don’t try to self promote yourself before others. Keep calm and just be yourself. People like to see you as you are. When people start realizing you, then you start moving towards building trust.

Key Point Many of us try to make ourselves look over smart to impress others. The result of which is that people do not like them and move away from them. A genuine person doesn’t do that. He shows himself as he is. So be a genuine person.

12.) Be Helpful and Kind

The most important thing to build trust in people is that your nature should be kind, respectful and amicable. Be wise and help people when needed. You should also respect the feelings and thoughts of others. You should help him regardless of whether someone gives you any benefit or not.

Sometimes it happens that we are not able to agree with someone’s words, but still, we should listen to his words. We must accept that his views are different from ours. We should not let him down for anything.

This is what makes you different from others and helps to build trust and credibility in people very easily. One more thing to be noted here is that having a sense of compassion should directly mean solving its problems. He should be instructed to work in the right direction or he should be given some help in his work so that his burden can be reduced. Our aim should be to try to make him self-independent.

Key Point When we help others, we directly or indirectly make our work easier. Because the quality of helping others also creates a power of self-confidence in us, due to which we can complete our work easily. When we help others, we directly or indirectly make our work easier. Because the quality of helping others also creates a power of self-confidence in us, due to which we can complete our work easily.

13.) Always Try To Do What You Believe In

If you think that life will be easy if we do it the way people want it to be, then you are wrong. It is good to take the suggestions of the people, but it is not always right to act according to those suggestions. When you do this you are sacrificing your principles and your beliefs. In other words, you are not trusting yourself or destroying your values and beliefs.

Also, people start seeing that when you can’t follow your principles or beliefs, you won’t respect their views either. But when you listen to your heart and do what you think is right, even if people around you disagree with it, then people start recognizing you for your honesty and integrity. It may sound very bitter, but it is true that to get the trust of people, sometimes you have to upset them.

If you are not ready to upset people, it means that you are not ready to stand for anything. Think for a moment, would you ever trust a person who doesn’t take a stand for anything? I know the answer to most of you would be “NO”. It is very difficult to believe a person who can’t take any stand in his life. 

It is very difficult to trust everyone. But we have a right to know about the people we trust. Maybe the people on whom we are trusting disagree with us. But they also have every right to know about us.

Key Point We should not expect the trust of others until we believe in ourselves. There are many such situations in life when we have to act with our intelligence and discretion and this is possible only when we have trust in ourselves.

14.) Keep Secrets and Be Loyal

To Build Trust, we should also take care of the secrets of others. Whenever a person tells us his secrets, it means that he trusts us a lot. Prove to yourself that you will never reveal their secrets and they can trust you completely. If you do this the other’s trust in you will be lost forever. Once trust is broken, it is very difficult to trust again. Therefore, take special care that you do not make any such mistake.

If ever such mistake happens in future then you should apologize to them. Explain to them so that they can understand you. Make sure to tell them that you were concerned about their future and that you care about them.

Try not to gossip about your friends or team workers with others. Gossip never creates a positive image. By doing this, the trust of your friends or team workers may be lost from you. If somewhere you hear gossip about them, then take a stand for it. It will clearly show your loyalty to them.

Key Point Every time you break a promise, others lose faith in you. Be true to your word and promise and try that you can fulfil them. If ever by mistake a promise is not fulfilled, then be apologetic for it, and try to fulfil the promise. Avoid making promises that you cannot fulfil.

15.) Tell the Truth As Much As You Can

There are times in life when it may not always be possible, to tell the truth. In such a situation, try to explain the situation to your friends or team workers. We know that honesty is a good policy. So be honest with your duty. Always try to speak the truth. This quality of speaking the truth enhances your personality.

Sometimes it happens that we lie to protect ourselves. Whenever this happens to you, tell the truth as soon as possible and also why you lied. One lie can ruin everything. Explain your purpose and be honest about your regrets. The more we become honest, the more the level of trust increases. 

Key Point Whenever you say something to your friends or team workers, say it from the heart. Keep your attitude positive. Choose something good about your friends and people. If you have to tell someone bad news, then tell it in such a way that it does not hurt the other.

16.) Improve Your Emotional Intelligence (EI or EQ)

If you do not know what emotional intelligence is, then let us first know it. Emotional intelligence (EQ or EI) is an ability that helps to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges, and positively understand our emotions.

To Build Trust in People, we have to make a lot of improvements in our emotional intelligence. This is because high emotional intelligence helps you to navigate the social complexities of your workplace and to immerse others. When you begin to understand your emotions and control them well, then you learn to express your things better. From this others begin to understand your things well and it starts to trust you.

Key Point Emotional Intelligence makes you strong enough from the inside. It helps to build a strong relationship, increase trust in your workplace, succeed in your career and understands the feelings of others.

TIPS: Here is an article on ‘How to Improve Our Emotional Intelligence?’ by Jeanne Segal, Ph.D., Melinda Smith, M.A., Lawrence Robinson, and Jennifer Shubin. This article will help you to improve your Emotional Intelligence a lot.

So, these were the ’16 Powerful Ways To Build Trust And Credibility in People’.

Frequently Asked Questions By People

Q.1: How to we build trust with coworkers?

Ans: Here are some tips given by which you can build trust with coworkers:

1. Be honest & Admit your mistakes
2. Keep your words & promises
3. Be Kind and Helpful
4. Try to understand your Team
5. Communicate with Coworkers

Q.2: Why do we build trust?

Ans: There is a lot of power in Trust. When we trust someone, we have faith in his strength and honesty that whatever he does, he will do it right. There is so much power in trust that we put ourselves at risk and trust others.

Q.3: Can we build trust again?

Ans: Yes, we may Build Trust Again. But it depends on what kind of relationship you have and how much you need that relationship in life. If you think it is possible to trust your partner again, then you should do it without any hesitation.

Q.4: How build trust in a relationship?

Ans: If you want to build trust in your relationship, then you must first trust your partner. Give him/her all your time and try to understand him/her as much as you can. Don’t hide your secrets from him/her. Be loyal and Genuine.

Q.5: Which are the behaviours that build trust?

Ans: To build trust in anyone, you need to listen to his words. Be transparent with him. Appreciate his words and show trust. Never let him down. Present yourself as you are. Avoid showing off.

Q.6: How to build trust with customers?

Ans: To build trust with customers, you need to keep certain things in mind like you can share your experience with them. You can satisfy them by reviewing a product & can start a loyalty program through which you can reach out to them. You can take the help of an online system and provide feedback options & can also build trust through exciting offers.

5 Books Recommendation On Building Trust

Book #1- Building Trust in Business, Politics, Relationships & Life.

Accordingly, Robert C. Soloman, trust is not a static quality, but an emotional skill that exists as an active and dynamic part of our lives. Once trust is broken, can we get it back? Can we make it the same again?

This book can answer all your questions. Soloman explains in this book how we can move forward by connecting trust with our promises, commitments and our feelings.

Book Available On Amazon.

Book #2 – A Question of Trust

Gayatri Rath and Parul Chand have very well explained the combined experiences of corporate communication and the media industry in this book.

The book specifically emphasizes why corporate communication is an integral part of any organization and how it promotes trust building over time. This book is for those who looking to strengthen their brand and build trust.

Book Available On Amazon.

Book #3 – Building Trust: How to Get It! How To Keep It!

This book does not tell the importance of faith. This book is ‘How to build trust?’ And tells about ‘How to keep trust in life?’. There will be very few such sources that are helpful for trust-building.

Hyler Bracey tells you How to improve trust-building step by step in this book. Whatever you do is not necessarily always right. This book is the best book for broken trust and relationships.

Book Available On Amazon.

Book #4 – The thin book of Trust

This is a very important and short book which tells a lot about Trust. According to the author, often before doing a good deed, there are many obstacles in it and has to face many criticisms.

Charles Feltman has focused more on the fact that by working together we can give more strength to the trust. We need to have faith in ourselves. In this book, you will learn how to build strong trusting relationships with others and how to repair them if they break.

Book Available On Amazon.

Book #5 – Trust Works!

It is very difficult to build and maintain trust in today’s modern society. This is nothing less than a challenge. In this book, we will read how one belief can change our nature.

The author presents such an outline of a trust model in this, using which we can increase our morale and overcome our problems.

Available On Amazon.

A Take-Home Message

We know very well that the foundation of any relationship is trust and once trust is broken, it is very difficult to rebuild it. It takes a long time to make it the same as before. Many of us have been cheated or hurt in our past. But still, through this article, we would like to say that we should not give up trusting people. Many people in this world are honest and trustworthy.

Follow all the tips from the above article and try to start your life afresh. For some people, it will be very difficult to adopt them at once, but you should adopt them gradually, not at all at once. By doing one, then two three like this, gradually make them a part of your life. When you do that, you’ll find that building trust and respect with others is as easy as breathing.

Maybe now you have a way to build trust in others. Feel free to share your thoughts and feedback in the comment section.

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