Social interaction is based on communication and it is communicative action that has allowed human beings to progress as a rational species throughout history. We can affirm that communication transforms our lives day by day. In fact, one of its purposes is to transform reality. A fundamental ingredient for successful communication is trust, understood as the belief that a person or group will be able and willing to act appropriately in a given situation and thoughts. Confidence will be more or less reinforced depending on the actions and values. Laurence Cornu said that “trust is a hypothesis about the future conduct of the other. It is an attitude that concerns the future, to the extent that this future depends on the action of another. It is a kind of bet that consists of not worrying about the lack of control of the other and of time”.
In working groups, it is important to build trust through communication strategies, as this will ensure effective coordination. Trust is an action or a pre-action (something you have before acting) that is closely linked to communication, if there is trust there can be an interaction and through this trust is encouraged, in a vital circle. The communication of the human being consists of his opinions and his actions. Ludwig von Bertalanffy declared in 1976 that organizations function as open systems, that is, they are related to the environment in communication processes in which the flow of information is vital and the axis of their performance.
In this way, the systemic approach to communication in organizations is configured, since these are permanently related to their environment by way of legal or political, social, economic, and even technological relationships. In order for the organization to survive, it must communicate effectively with its environment and internally, for this it is necessary to generate trust through acts, communicative or non-communicative.
But trust is a concept whose indicators are difficult to attest, since they reside in the minds of individuals, and it is up to psychologists to calculate or analyze their scope. In work teams, for example, we can verify the presence of trust when the actions to be carried out are carried out effectively once they have been communicated. Trust must be adopted before behavior. The actors are prepared to communicate with an attitude of trust that can only come from a series of previously learned values, through education and experience. Trust between people, citizens, institutions, consumers, clients, countries and other interlocutors lays the foundations for the development and sustainability of any project, plan or enterprise. It is not fear nor is it based on fear or authority. It supposes the belief and practice of values and ways of thinking, which allows those who bet on it to achieve better results and minimize the risks involved in managing in times of uncertainty. It is the most intelligent and effective way to achieve success and sustainability of business, social, political and even scientific projects. Like reputation, trust is not bought, sold or lent. It is earned by hand. And just as you win, you lose.
Cecilia Cebreros raises some requirements that the communicator must fulfill to generate trust: 1) Genuine interest in knowing the audiences of interest, the needs and expectations they have regarding the project or institution 2) Coherence in messages and behaviors. That is, compliance with commitments; 3) Simplicity, because complexity, the abuse of technicalities, of complicated procedures, only feed mistrust. A fourth requirement that is equally or more important than the rest and that enjoys total consensus among those who manage and understand communication as a strategic tool and process, is the expression and verification of the commitments that are established and must be met with each of the audiences. of interest. This verification of compliance with at least one commitment leads to another concept, which is effectiveness. Trust is earned and therefore the positive and real experience of verifying that an expressed promise is fulfilled, constitutes one of the pillars in the construction of this bond called trust.
Let’s not forget that strategic communication is a management process that is based on understanding, relating and linking the different interests and expectations of all the actors involved in a process.
By the way, at a Dircom event held recently, Marcelo Manucci stated that “the quality and effectiveness of communication -and therefore of the messages- depends on the quality of the link we have with the audiences of interest”. Nothing more certain.