Violate your promises. The Big Big item in every relationship is to "do what you say you are going to". It can be with your boss, employees, team member, customer, supplier, spouse, friend, child or anyone you encounter. Keeping your commitments is paramount to building trust!

What happens when you make a commitment? You build hope, when you say you will do something and you build trust when you do it. Think about this before tossing out "I will..." The flip side is being so vague that nobody can get you to agree to anything, this is damaging too. Be courageous and willing to give your word and follow through with it.

This might appear to be common sense, but what is common sense is not always common behavior. How to break the declining trust. Decide how you will live and continue to make it different in your behavior and example towards others.

1. Focus on your capability to repeat a pattern of actions that tell people "you do what you say". The more you become aware, the more you will make the better choices.

2. If you make too many commitments and are overextending yourself, than start to prioritize and reduce by saying "no".

3. Make deposits into the bank - the emotional bank account as you implement. Say - Do - Follow through and you will notice how you are building the Trust Bank Account.

4. Next time you have to make a commitment. Stop and ask, is this realistic? Its better to disappoint someone its easier to do at the beginning than when time is running out. Make sure you repeat the pattern of doing what you commit to.

5. Recognize the trust you build at home is one of the most important areas. If you are single, its with the 5 people you are around most. If you live with family, its those people in your house. Pay attention to how you communicate and how people expect you to behave once you say it.

Whatever your situation, you need to get good at establishing trust. This starts with learning as much as you can about how it works.

Some questions to ponder, who do you trust? Someone at home? At work? A Parent? A friend? What has transpired to establish trust between you and that individual? In my personal relationships it is a matter of character and behavior. At work it is often competence and track record. You need to decide what is critical to you.

In reality, it is really character and competence that permeate the relationship and contribute to establishing trust.

Currency is a common language of communicating in modern society today. You work hard for currency and have a value assigned, it easily flows daily through many mechanisms. Life is tough without it as where it is in short supply, bartering systems become the currency which is not as readily traded. Trust flows as well. In relationships your ability to rely on others, work together well, and experience believable communication is dependent on how well you build a foundation of trust.

For business and family, trust is required for survival. Are you feeding it or destroying it in your team?

3 Ideas for building trust in your team
1. Frequent and timely communication - team members proactively keep one another informed of new information, changes, and issues. Work to include the right people in meetings so you have the right involvement
2. How you manage high pressure situations - There are always schedule constraints, resource issues, budget changes that will test how team works through issues. Trusting teams work together and draw from one another rather than get defensive or accusatory when tough times come. All projects undergo these situations or you are not working aggressively enough. Team members band together and focus on finding solutions and do not resort to personal attacks.
3. Positive Attitude - Showing commitment and enthusiasm as a project manager or team leader goes along way to how others view the project. When there is enthusiasm and letting others know they are great is important. Tell them that they are awesome, you couldn't have done it without them. As these are all deposits to the bank account that pay dividends later.