The one thing but the most important we have lost and destroyed in our community is Trust! Trust in ourselves, relationships, organizations, government or even on humanity has been shaken to its core.
I believe lack of trust at all levels has caused us friction, hidden agendas, conflicts, rivalries, win-lose thinking, defensive communications which later led to the unprecedented crisis we are in.
However if trust is to be restored, developed and leveraged, it’s the one thing that has the potential to create unparalleled success and wellbeing in every dimension of our lives.
Therefore, in post war #Tigray the primary and fundamental thing would be to establish, grow, extend, and restore #Trust in not only in personal , interpersonal and stakeholders relationships but as a key competency of our leadership, market and society.
Stephen M.R. Covey in his book “The Speed of Trust: The one thing that changes everything” points out decline of trust could arise because of a lack of self‐trust. To put it simply, if we cannot trust ourselves, it makes it equally hard to trust others.
TRUST is confidence, a mix of both integrity and capability. As it increase, SPEED increase and COST decreases. If it is in the air, you can say something wrong, but people will try and get your meaning, if it’s lacking no matter how precise you are, you will be misunderstood!!
It can be seen as a “ripple effect” in which a drop from the self creates a concentric waves, as it flows from the inside to out. In this thread 🧵 I will cover the five waves that will significantly transform our trust situation. (P.S. It’s not only specific for #Tigray) 😊
The first wave is SELF-TRUST were CREDIBILITY as the main principle. It’s all about, do you walk the talk and are you a person who set and achieve goals and keep commitments. Credibility is derived from four core sources which as an individual we should seek to build:
(1) Integrity ( Do u do what u say?); (2) Intent ( Is your motive pure?) ; (3) Capabilities (Are you relevant) and (4) Results (What’s your track record). We ought to first answer this questions as individual which is the most fundamental part of building trust!
The second wave is RELATIONSHIP TRUST were CONSISTENT BEHAVIOR is required to establish and maintain trust in a persistent manner at all circumstances. High-trust individuals or leaders should exhibit behaviors, which can be learned and applied in order to generate trust
(1) Talk straight; (2) Show respect; (3) Be transparent; (4) Right wrongs; (5) Show loyalty; (6) Deliver results; (7) Get better; (8) Confront reality; (9) State expectations; (10) Be accountable; (11) Listen first; (12) Meet commitments; (13) Extend trust.
The third wave is ORGANIZATIONAL TRUST were ALIGNMENT of its systems, structures and rewards with its consistent objective should be maintained. People manipulating facts, withholding information, resisting change and covering up mistakes a typical lack of organizational trust
The fourth wave is MARKET TRUST were REPUTATION is key to be bought more, refer more and give the benefit of the doubt. Your #BRAND defines you, whether it’s in your resume or organizational product. This is therefore a critical junction to assess trust level in any system.
The fifth and final wave is SOCIETAL TRUST were CONTRIBUTION is the principle with the the intent to give back to society than destroying or creating value rather than diminishing it. The dividend and abundance created will be the primary driver for individuals or organizations
The idea that trust can’t be restored once lost is a myth. Even if Self trust is the most difficult one to restore after violating one’s commitment it could be healed with discipline. Similarly relationships with others can be restored through behavioral change.
Therefore it’s vital and possible to restore trust in our organizations and create a market that’ll thrive. But for that we need a leadership that establish and expand on it. May that be the core assignment of the “transition” we are in!!
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"Meetings Are Toxic🤭," according to Fried and Hansson in their book “Rework”. It’s the single and major source of waste and inefficiency leading to disruption in workflow, killing creativity and arriving at a poor decision! 1/n
Meetings are more of concepts and abstract words than concrete actions. Usually they are stranded with unclear agendas resulting in confusion and hinder effective discussion. And during this time the information exchanged is minimal compared to the time spent. 2/n
And there is that one person that inevitably gets his turn to waste everyone's time with nonsense. This leads to shift away from the original agenda, leading to unproductive discussions.
In light of this argument I am wondering about the loooonggg meeting of ውድብ 🤔 .. 3/n
I left Addis Ababa after few days visit, with a mixed feeling of pride and sadness. I feel honored to have been able to walk with my chins high and alive after surviving a genocide. And this is possible, because of our brothers and sisters who paid a price with their life,
limbs and traumatic experiences. This same thought brings me sadness as the price is too high and irreversible. The youth didn’t deserve to have lost their life while city dwellers are all warm and comfy in their homes.
During my short visit after nearly three years, it’s obvious Addis Abebeians are sucking up to the soaring inflation and security, since it’s a price to be paid for supporting a war. Every taxi driver keeps on complaining about life if not the way the politics is unfolding.
When war broke out in Tigray, my kids with their father were stranded in Mekelle while I was in AA. In the morning when I woke up to the news on the internet, my then friends started calling to break the news one at a time at which point my body was shaking.1/n
I spontaneously lashed out on my Facebook wall, as if the world could hear and do something, including God! I continued receiving mixed phone calls throughout the day, some asking genuinely if I am ok while others were only prying if I knew some intel!2/n
Even if my head was imagining the worst case scenario, I stayed calm and responded all will be well soon… at least that’s what I wanted to hear for myself.
But when the radio stations started playing Tilahun Gessese famous war song ‘Ethiopia’ 3/n
In some countries it is common for students to have what they call a 'Gap Year’ after finishing high-school, in order to help them figure out what they want before college year. This gap year has been forced upon students in #Tigray in all age group and for over three years.1/n
Around February 2022 “Education in emergency” was in effect for Kg-6th grade where the grades was revised to fit a compressed calendar while textbooks and teaching methods remain the same. The overall situation is a critical topic for research in education. 2/n
The program was developed and implemented in the most difficult situation than am narrating here. Children had to go to near zero school facilities, where they had no chair or had to carry one from home. Exercise books and pens were luxury so they had to learn verbally. 3/n
Significant portion of #Tigray population with an enormous potential for change is YOUTH (age 18 - 29 for this context; However without a census for over 2 decades, exact figure remain obscure 😏). Currently war, siege and previously Covid-19 have affected their lives immensely.
Many had to grab arms and fought to defend their sovereignty during the two years long war, disengaging from their daily life and aspirations. Others if they escaped being arrested or killed by forces of 🇪🇹 , 🇪🇷 and Amhara, they have been displaced,
ending up in collective IDP centers, with families or separated and being responsible for their siblings. Most horribly, young women have been raped and became victims of violence which affected their physical, social and psychological wellbeing.
“መስመር እዩ ሃይልና” I have taken this phrase to mean VALUES are what we stand for and builds our PRINCIPLES as #Tegaru. Similarly “መከተ” is protecting it from any oppressors that tries to disrupt it.
But now am asking what are our values and principles? 1/13
To put a working definition for this two words, I will quote the book “Principles” which explain them as, “Your values are what you consider important and they define who you want to be. However, they are not practical to use when you are faced with tough decisions. 2/13
Principles on the other hand are what allow you to live a life consistent with those value. Your principles need to reflect values you really believe in or the cognitive dissonance will overwhelm you.”