Trust
=
intimacy/risk
How about the reverse: Don't Trust Me.
Or the unknowing: In God We Trust.
How can we balance these three factors?
Problem
Decrease perceived risk. Increase authentic intimacy with friends, colleagues etc.
Solution
We have covered aspects of this before in our Trust post, Trust the Facilitator post, and Don't be that Guy/Gal post.
We are going to leave it at that. These are personal qualities. There are lots of tips and tricks to over come this, but they are fundamentally personal concerns that can't be covered in text, video or print, only in person.
Here are some ideas though:
Mirroring: "a human behavior characterized by copying someone else while communicating with them. It is often observed in people exhibiting similar postures, gestures, or tone of voice. It may include miming gestures, movements, body language, muscle tensions, expressions, tones, eye movements, breathing, tempo, accent, attitude, choice of words, metaphors, or other features discernible in communication."
Common Experience: Play in a football game together. Play foosball together. Play a drinking game together (drinking at a bar doesn't count.) Go on a hike, play Frisbee Golf...
Social Network Research: Look at someone's LinkedIn profile, MySpace, Twitter etc. accounts to see what their interest and activities are.
Trust equals intimacy divided by risk was originally quoted in the book: No-Collar: the Humane Workplace and Its Hidden Costs
by Andrew Ross