Building Trust Together

I knew being invited to be a podcast guest was a great opportunity.

Then the inner critic kicked in! Must be a mistake, why would they want you. Blah, blah, blah.

Chuckling to myself, as I generally do now when my inner critic randomly goes on a bit of a rant, I found George Grombacher’s ^*LifeBlood Podcast and got researching…and listening, of course.

Now back to my opening line…

Being invited to be a podcast guest was a fantastic opportunity.

Thank you again, George 😊

Reflecting on my experience before, during and after the podcast recording, it reinforced to me how important it is to see yourself as a Trust Builder when it comes to communication and engagement.

And that’s having trust in yourself as much as enabling others to trust in you!

Helping each other with your mutual trust building can lead to learning, growth and opportunities you might never have achieved on your own.

As I pondered further on the ways and means of achieving this trust building… and there are a few to choose from… my mind kept coming back to a team model I developed a few years ago.

One which has trust at its heart.

My recent experience with George G is a great example of this model in action.

Teaming Up to Raise Us Up

Although George and I didn’t know each other we both knew we had to work as a team to bring a value-added experience for his listeners.

And, as it often does, it all began with purpose.

Purpose

George has crafted his personal brand, the reasons for / aims of his podcast, why he has guests on his show and the value he wishes to add for his audience.

I have crafted my personal brand, the reasons for / aims of the work I do, why being authenically visible is important and the value I wish to add for others.

Together there is overlap and a good degree of unity. And, as an aside, the phrase ‘human flourishing’ in George’s show description particularly resonated with me.

Together we both new our purpose for my episode, as with all the others, was to add value for the audience.

Processes / Practices

To capitalise on this joint purpose and maintain the trust-building energy, George had set up a slick confidence-nurturing process. There were no barriers to us working on this together.

Providing a show outline and sample questions enabled me to order my thoughts and explore who I am and what matters from a fresh perspective.

It helped me to boost my trust in myself and prepare. Not in a prescriptive way. It helped me feel more articulate and appreciate what mattered to George. After all, he knows his audience the best.

Plus the pre-show conversation, those few minutes of human interaction, helped us extend the rapport and trust we had already started to build.

Roles

Our roles in this mini adventure may seem obvious. George = host ; Elaine = guest. But that’s just our labels. There’s more to it.

In essence…

George’s role is facilitator, audience champion and Trust Builder

Mine was authentic contributor, audience champion and Trust Builder

Together in these roles we were able to deliver on our purpose; joint and individual.

Communication and engagement are much more than simply setting your interaction phasers to transmit (yes, I know, a blatant Star Trek reference!).

It’s all about building trust.

Whether it’s a job interview, career conversation or guesting on a fab international podcast 🙂

Talking of which… my episode airs on George’s LifeBlood podcast on Saturday 20 November 2021.

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^*LifeBlood Podcast – A Human flourishing podcast with a focus on money and personal development, featuring professionals and subject matter experts, released 10 times a week. The show that helps you get better, so you can live how you want.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lifeblood/id1312646351

Hosted by George Grombacher