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Trusting relationships are the foundation of effective partnerships, and effective services.

Relationship Building

What is trust?

Establishing Trust

What might a TRUSTING RELATIONSHIP look like?

A continuum fo self-evaluation

Developing Effective Practice: The individual and the service

Developing Effective Practice: Family, friends, whanau

Relationship Building

There are some key relationships that services need to have in place:

• a strong commitment to building trusting relationships with the people at the heart of the service i.e. the individuals accessing the service

• relationships with family/whanau, friends, advocates, work colleagues and acquaintances (potential natural supports)

• contacts with members of the local community. This relationship works best when it is reciprocal.

• mutual understanding and respect with funders and allied service providers.
  
  

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What is trust?

1. Belief in the safety and reliability of another person/organization’s actions.

2. Letting others know your feelings, emotions and reactions, and having the confidence in them to respect you and to not take advantage of you.

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Establishing Trust

Key Points:

• Trust is developed over time based on tangible actions

• Trust involves being clear about intent, scope and boundaries

• Trust requires mutuality, constant choice and recognising interdependence

• Trust may need to be restored if there is a history of betrayal

1. Understanding the key components of a trusting relationship

• Time – take time to get to know one another (individuals and/or community). Take time to develop and strengthen relationships.

• Clear and honest communication about your intentions – eliminate guesswork (and anxiety) and discussion about the other’s involvement.

• Respectfulness – of others views and opinions. This is not agreement or assent but demonstrating that you value their right to their own views/beliefs.

• Consideration/Benevolence/Safety – establishing the belief that the trust relationship is based on concern to advance/support our interests – not impede them

• Integrity and Reliability – Do what you say you will do. Trust develops when a person/agency’s words are congruent with their actions

• Create opportunities to practice/show trust – the more opportunities there are to demonstrate that you do what you say the more that strengthens the relationship

2. Developing mechanisms for feedback, checking in and other reassurances

• Make time to check in and give feedback

• Keep feedback constructive

• Be mindful of your own actions. Be mindful of the other’s actions. Use that information to relate, not judge.

3. Developing mechanisms for dealing with change and/or conflict

• Make sure to provide time and space for airing concerns

• Prepare for change through consultation where possible

• Learn to focus on the issue – keep perspective

4. Restoring trust

• Trust is usually lost through betrayal

• Acknowledge difficulty of loss of trust/feelings

• Positive Re-framing of persistent negative responses

• Development of new responses and reassurances (actions speak louder than words)

• Time

5. Being Trustworthy

• Demonstrations of trustworthiness in actions

• Coherency between words and deeds

• Leadership

• Relationships - management/staff, staff/clients, family/agency, etc.

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What might a TRUSTING RELATIONSHIP look like?

For the individual:

• Understanding how things work and how to get things done

• Having a method to communicate ideas, needs, etc.

• Feeling safe about making complaints or raising a concern

• Being valued and respected by staff, family and friends

• Being part of the give and take – reciprocity

• Being asked to contribute

For family/whanau:

• Being heard and listened to without fear of reprisal

• Being asked for information, ideas and opinions

• Knowing that what is agreed to will happen

For the service provider:

• Having transparent, easy to understand processes for decision making and planning

• Having regular feedback and checking back in all aspects of service delivery

• Having service users and family/whanau as regularly contributing members of service planning

• Being able to try new approaches

• Being acknowledged and recognised in the community

For the community:

• Knowing that the service does what is says it will do

• Having ways to interact with and contribute to the service and the people who use it

• The service, and service users, make contributions to the community

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A Continuum for Self-Evaluation

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Developing Effective Practice: The individual and the service

Create a relaxed, “open door” atmosphere. Have fun.

• Pair people with the key workers, brokers and/or facilitators that have a rapport with them or relate to them best. Allow the opportunity to withdraw from the arrangement if it is not working out.

• Understand that developing relationships takes time and involves an understanding of how to create an atmosphere of trust.

• Get to know people when they enter your service. Listen, observe and understand what makes a person tick. This may start with one staff member initially, but eventually it is important that other staff and managers know the person as well. Getting to know people with high support needs may require more time and constantly asking, “What gets a positive reaction from this person?”

• Don’t underestimate the power of conversation. Take the time to talk, share and listen.

• Test the boundaries. Trying new things allows the service provider to explore, with the person, what might otherwise have been overlooked. Build on things the person already likes.

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Developing Effective Practice: Family, friends, whanau

• Understand the role of family, friends and whanau in a person’s life. This will vary from person to person.

• Understand what family and whanau want for their family member and what they expect from a service, e.g. a traditional day service where their relative can go during the working week and/or a safe and caring environment and/or support to access work, training and other mainstream activities.

• Build genuine relationships with families. Welcome them, involve them and listen to them. Explain what the service is trying to achieve and how this might occur.

• Understand families’ concerns about risk. Let them know about progress and achievements and reinforce what the person ‘can do’.

• Family, friends and whanau who know and care about the person are a service provider’s allies, and the foundation of a natural support network.

• Consider establishing a family group so that families have a way of contributing to the service and supporting one another.

• Sometimes a person’s wishes and a whanau’s expectations will lead to conflict.

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