Build trust in your new chama – keep your commitments

Congratulations, you have just formed your Chama. Your first meeting went very well and everyone seems happy and ready to go. Wait a minute. Where do you go from here? How do you ensure that your members remain enthusiastic? Build trust. Dr. Stephen Covey, a famous best-selling author of several books such as 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE and most recently The SPEED OF TRUST shares some pearls of wisdom of how you can build trust in your new Chama. According to Dr. Covey, keeping commitments builds trust faster in a new relationship and creates long-lasting relationships.

Making commitments, keeping commitments, and repeating this cycle will increase trust and do it quickly. You need to do what you say you are going to do. For example, if you promise your Chama members that you will host the next meeting in your house, don’t back out.

If you do this repeatedly, you may not have a second or third chance to regain the trust of your members. Commitments are part of everyday life and in Chama business. Making commitments builds hope; keeping commitments builds trust.

So, how do you earn trust with your new Chama members? Make and keep commitments and the trust level will increase and it will increase fast. Find commitments that create and add value for your members. To succeed in leading your Chama, keep in mind that any good Chama is based on trust. When you make a commitment, let your members be able to count on that and that you will deliver. This way, you will be signaling your behavior and when you deliver on your commitments, the relationship develops and grows quickly.

Also, to help you keep your commitments, delegate and ask for help where possible. When you do take on an extra task or piece of work, do not try to do it all by yourself, you have just promised to make sure that it gets done. Many of us aren’t very confident about delegating, but the truth is that it empowers both us and the people who we delegate to. Trust your Chama members, with progressively bigger tasks and they’re likely to rise to your expectations. By learning to delegate, you’ll accomplish more and you’ll be much more likely to see your commitments through.

A big reason for failing to follow through is simple forgetfulness. That’s why it is a good idea to keep good notes and records. It is easy to say “Yes I will take care of it” during
a meeting, only for the task to slip completely out of your mind. This is particularly the case on small, simple actions: perhaps sending an email. Not coming through for small jobs diminishes trust and members think; After all, if you can’t be trusted to handle little jobs, they are not going to want you taking care of the bigger ones.

So, if you say you are going to do something, then do it! Keeping commitments is a great behavior to build trust and build it fast. Making and keeping commitments is the fastest way to build trust and when you do this over time, you will build a reputation of respect and admiration from your Chama members.

Categorised in: chama management, Chama meetings, Chamas

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