In work and in life, trust is essential to strengthening relationships and experiencing growth. When we talk about time management, though, I don’t think we connect it enough with the issue of trust. I am admittedly one of the worst time management offenders, and I know that letting people down in this area can slowly eat away at trust.
In my experience, most of the time, people get used to the fact that you’re not going to meet their expectations in this area, and they adapt to your problem. Have you ever known someone who is just never, ever on time? What do you do – stop being their friend? Of course not. You just deal with it, and you know that it’s going to be an issue come wedding day or some other big event.
Poor time management isn’t limited to showing up late. Sometimes, it has to do with the ability to just follow-through with what you said you were going to – on time. I know I struggle with it. At the end of the day, it’s all poor time management and it does create a barrier to trust.
When Suzannah Scully, a career coach with experience in well-known companies including The Gap and Williams-Sonoma, approached me about the topic of time management, I immediately connected it with trust and wanted to write the article, even though writing and then re-reading this is going to be like rubbing salt into a scrape in my knee.
Time management and trust go together. We all know this but it’s worth reinforcing. In our email interview, Suzannah wrote,
“There is an immense connection between being on time and trust and the connection is respect. Respect for your own time. Respect for other’s time. It shows the value that you place on the project you are working on or the person you are working with. And not only the value that you place on others but also for yourself as well.”
3 Ways to Make Better Use of Our Time
Since I like to learn how to improve in areas where I currently fail, I asked Suzannah to come up with three ways we can build trust by making better use of our time. Here are her suggestions.
1. Have an end vision – Be clear on what you are ultimately trying to accomplish in your life or career. Too often we are reactive in our lives as opposed to being proactive. Take the time to sit down and really think about what you are working towards right now.
2. Set priorities – Once you have done the above steps, it should be pretty easy to prioritize commitments in your life. Which commitments fall in line with your end vision and which don’t? Prioritize from that place.
3. Break it down to baby steps – I think that we often underestimate the time each task/project/commitment will take because we often write down the end result but don’t factor in all of the baby steps needed to complete that commitment.
And by taking these steps, we build trust with those around us because they see someone who is being upfront and clear about what they want to accomplish. Also, consistency is one of the key factors to trust. So, if you see someone who time and time again is on time and delivering results, you trust they are going to get the job done.
Is Respect The Ultimate Time Management Motivator?
When I think about how poor time management demonstrates a lack of respect for people, I become more motivated to get things done when I say they will be done, and I believe this builds trust. There is another side of this story that deserves to be told, though, and it’s what to do when we fear building up too much trust and then failing. Hopefully we’ll get to that before month’s end.
Your Turn: Do you think there is a link between trust, reliability, respect, and time management?
About Suzannah Scully
Suzannah Scully’s mission is to inspire others to find work that they were made for. She helps clients create both a vision for their career and the steps they need to get there. Suzannah graduated from UCLA (Sociology) and spent almost ten years in product and marketing functions for companies including Gap, Williams-Sonoma, and The Wine Group.
Learn more about Suzannah Scully.
Rope image credit: Bill Longshaw
@Tia Peterson I’m back and making it happen. When you’re reactive you are at the mercy of others, proactive- you’re in charge.
@Meli Thanks, Meli! You’re back in town now, right?
I am now being more proactive than reactive, as Suzannah suggested. This is useful in my work from home as well as in working outside the home (now). I waste a lot less time that way.
Hey Tia!
My parents must have taught me well, because I am NEVER late and even if I’m on-time, I feel late and feel as if I’m being extremely disrespectful to the other person. I can understand if traffic is unexpectedly backed up, but then that’s when you give the courtesy call to apologize for being late.
Trust can be gained in a number of ways and forethought of what trust means to you and what it means to your customer should be put into your business plan.Great article!!!
I agree and feel it also shows a lack of respect for oneself.
When it comes to trust especially in a professional setting, being on time and following through are huge. I can’t think of a bigger pet peeve of mine than someone who is habitually late. It’s rude and just shows you lack respect for other peoples’ time. Great article!
Great article Tia. Of course, I could identify with it and have actually used the suggestions that were present.
@Mywritingworld Thanks for reading, Fran!
@AllieRambles Hi Allie – That’s why I pointed that part out about what happens when people we love/like are chronically late or have time management issues. It happens. I am not chronically late but I’ll be the first to admit that I’m bad at managing time. It makes me suffer more than anyone else, thankfully.
I had teachers who pounded in the respect/time management thing. So I’ve always felt that I never wanted to be on the wrong side of respect by showing up to their class late. I do think it’s really rude when people are late and don’t even think twice about it.
Tia,
I never made the connection between respect, trust and other people’s time until a few years back. Someone pointed out to me that a friend that is habitually late not only has no concept of time but doesn’t care about your either. She/he doesn’t care to think of the ramifications of making someone wait for them and the fact that that is time wasted. That made me angry. How did I adjust? I really didn’t. This friend is a great person and amazing friend in all sense of the word, except for this one flaw. I just overlooked it.
It is true, following up promptly and simply following up shows you respect that person enough to give them your attention, quickly and thoughtfully.
~Allie
Wonderful post as usual. Time and Trust. I also liked the three strategies you have added for trust. All of these are really importan. Thanks for a great read. Fran A
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