Yesterday my dentist’s office reached out for me to reschedule an upcoming appointment that had been booked for five months. They gave me no reason, and a small part of my brain thought I should be upset. But I wasn’t. Quite the opposite—I wanted to help out. Why?
Because, believe it or not, I love going to my dentist.
He makes himself available, even when my son decided to break half a front tooth off the evening before a holiday. He and his staff never make us feel guilty for not flossing enough. His care is state-of-the-art and is always quick. Best of all, since moving our family to his practice, our teeth have never been healthier.
Last week we derived four useful elements of trustworthiness from decades of research and millennia of experience. My dentist demonstrates all of them:
It turns out—in English anyway— these elements start with the first 4 letters of the alphabet, which is handy for remembering them. By arranging the elements in a grid as shown, we can also identify a few helpful patterns:
- The right half (A&B) are the Relational Elements that attract relational trust from others
- The left half (C&D) are the Rational Elements that attract rational trust from others
- The top half (A&D) are the Integrity Elements that reveal one’s core values & reputation
- The bottom half (B&C) are the Service Elements that reveal one’s willingness & ability to help others
These elements and patterns not only help us better understand trust, they can help us trust better. For example, you can use them to…
- Develop your own trustworthiness
- Assess the trustworthiness of others
- Trust others more intentionally
- Diagnose and repair broken trust
- Provide actionable feedback to others
Or, like my dentist, you could use them to build stronger patient relationships!
For Reflection: How might you apply the ABCD Model to a situation or relationship today?
Update: 28,717 words
I’ve written 28,717 manuscript words out of a goal of 60,000. That puts me about 48% complete with the first draft, which is 3% more than last week.
Not as many manuscript words as I would have liked this past week, but I did make positive progress. I anticipate breaking the the 50% mark this next week, while still working on my book proposal’s second draft.
