I’m the classic skeptic.  Always willing to give you the devil’s advocate point of view or find the loophole in your plan.  I’m also a naturally untrusting person.  So, in true guru fashion the universe has decided that I need to learn to trust and quickly!

I don’t know where my lack of trust originated.  Maybe I got the short end of the stick in a bad lunch box trade in 2nd grade.  Maybe it was that time that my brother dug a hole, filled it with water and told me to run across the “puddle” so I could fall into a four foot deep mud pit….which I did with great relish because my super cool big brother would never do anything to hurt me!  Ongoing therapy aside, I’ve had to learn how to trust and now I get to do that daily!

Starting a coworking space has been such an excellent exercise in learning how to trust.  First, I had to hire lots of people to perform services like real estate transactions, web development, interior design, build outs and reliable internet.  Luckily, I have been thrilled with the results and their work allowed Cohere to open on time and only a little over budget.  But, in the grand scheme of trust, this wasn’t any big test of my ability to let someone else take the reins whilst I carry on blissfully unconcerned with the state of my business.

Now on to the big daddy of all trust activities.  I’m not talking the “let’s get out of this human knot or fall backwards into my arms” type stuff.  I’m talking, “hey, there’s a lot of stuff in this building that you don’t own and you’re going to give 10 people 24/7 access to that space.”   Oh, and it’s impossible for you to be there all the time, and one day you might want a day off so you’re going to leave your business in the hands of someone else while you’re out and about.”

So, I tried it.  Little by little.  First, I would just leave for 10 minutes, then that turned into long lunches.  Guess what?!  Not only did the building not burn down–everything continued on as usual while I was gone.  Visitors were greeted, tours were given and questions were answered…..the coffee even got made.  Now I’ve worked my way up the trust ladder to a whole afternoon off and we’re headed towards a whole day off!

Now, I’m not recommending that banks and jewelry stores ask their customers to just “keep an eye on things for a minute while I’m out eating a burrito,” but there is definitely a special place for trust in a coworking community.  The members of Cohere are some of the most trustworthy and honest folks in town.  They treat the space and each other respectfully and no one has tricked any one else into running into a 4 foot mud pit—success!

How do you surround yourself with people you trust?