IT Management Slideshow: Eight Pillars of Trust at Work

Do you consider the ability to establish trust between a manager and his staff as a "soft skill" -- something that's "nice to have" but not a "gotta have"? Think again. Mistrust actually doubles the cost of doing business, according to the Deming Center for Quality Management at the Columbia Business School. And, companies with a high-trust factor generate total returns to shareholders at almost three times that of companies with low levels of trust, according to Towers Watson, a global consulting firm. In the book "The Trust Edge: How Top Leaders Gain Faster Results, Deeper Relationships, and a Stronger Bottom Line (Summerside Press/available now), author David Horsager breaks down this topic to eight essential "pillars of trust" that CIOs and other organizational leaders must establish to secure this kind of bond with employees. Ultimately, Horsager contends, the building of trust is a marathon - not a sprint. Horsager is a professor, speaker and business strategist who has worked for FedEx, Wells Fargo, the Department of Homeland Security, the Minnesota Vikings and other clients. Here, we highlight Horsager's eight pillars of trust and explain how you can put them into action.