The Head or The Heart

TWO TYPES OF TRUST AND

HOW THEY GROW

trust from the head,

trust from the heart

Two Types of Trust

AFFECTIVE TRUST
Arises from feelings of emotional closeness,
empathy, or friendship

COGNITIVE TRUST
Based on the confidence one feels in another
persons accomplishments, skills, and reliability

Two Types of Trust

AMERICAN CULTURE
A long tradition of separating the practical and
emotion
Mixing two is perceived as unprofessional and
risks conflict of interest

CHINESE CULTURE
Stronger interplay between affective and
cognitive trust
Likely to develop personal ties and affective
bonds when there is also a business or financial tie

task-based vs
relationship-based
culture

Trusting Cycle
TASK-BASED CULTURE
Tend to separate affective and cognitive trust
Rely on cognitive trust for work relationships
Trust is built through business related
activities

RELATIONSHIP-BASED CULTURE
More cognitive and affective trust are woven
together in business
Built through sharing meals, business drinks, visits
at the coffee machine

Trusting Cycle

Trusting Cycle
AMERICAN CULTURE
Two-to-three minute exchanges for built a
relationship
Check if off the list and get down to business
Relationships are quickly built and quickly dropped
Defined by functionality and practicality

BRIC CULTURE
Build trust with your clients and colleagues in order to
be successful
Ice-breakers are rare
Founded on professional credibility and deeper
emotional connections
Slow to built, slow/hard to be dropped

strategies for building

trust across cultural
divides

Strategies for Building Trust

Invest time into developing a

relationship-based approach or
into building affective trust

Strategies for Building Trust

Build on common interests

Look a little harder

Showing Your True Self

TASK-BASED CULTURE
Show the best me
Politically correct
Dont dare to complain or show negative
emotion

RELATIONSHIP-BASED CULTURE

Show nonprofessional self

Leave concentration behind
Dont worry about saying or doing the wrong thing
Be yourself-personal self, not business self

Showing Your True Self

Benefits in Affective Relationship Building:

Brings back to the business the

value of trust

Relationship with person

provides a safety net

Often save time in the long run

Consider Meals Carefully

STRATEGY 1
HOST: Task-based society
VISITORS: Relationship-based society
WHAT TO DO: Put more time and effort into
organizing meals to be shared.

STRATEGY 2
HOST: Relationship-based society
VISITORS: Task-based society
WHAT TO DO: Dont throw out the socializing
altogether.

Consider Meals Carefully

In some cultures, sharing drinks

particularly alcoholic drinksis
equally important.

Consider Meals Carefully

JAPAN
Drinking is a great platform for sharing your true
inner feelings as well as for recognizing where bad
feelings might be brewing and to strive to address
them before they turn into problems.

EAST ASIA
Whether you are working in China, Thailand, or
Korea, doing a substantial amount of drinking with
customers and collaborators is a common step in the
trust-building process.

Communication Medium
Face-to-face
Phone Calls
E-mails

Communication Medium
TASK-BASED

RELATIONSHIPBASED

Medium of
Communication

More efficient

More
social/interactive

Response to
People One Has
Never Met

Favorable and rapid

response

Unfavorable and slow

to no response at all

Communication Medium
STRATEGY: WASTA

Connections that create preference

Relationships that give influence
Who you know
Wingman

Communication Medium

Medium of
Communication
Response to
People One Has
Never Met
Length of Social
Talk

TASK-BASED

RELATIONSHIPBASED

More efficient

More
social/interactive

Favorable and rapid

response

Unfavorable and slow

to no response at all

Short

Long

Communication Medium
STRATEGY
For meetings and phone calls
Let the other lead
Initiate the social cues
For e-mails
Mimic the others style

Applications to the
Philippine Setting

AFFECTIVE TRUST
RELATIONSHIP-BASED
Fostering warm
relationships with others
often leads them to be
overly inquisitive when it
comes to conversations
with strangers
Filipinos like to hang out
after meetings have
officially ended
Losing face" is shameful in
Filipino society

game time!

Marina and Jim (both coming from different

countries) met to discuss a certain
acquisition. Marinas team visited Jims
location and there spent 3 days of intense
and difficult negotiations, ordering
sandwiches for lunch, and taking only short
pauses throughout the day. Jims team also
visited Marinas country to discuss. Their
days were packed with meetings, the meals
were long (often lasted over an hour) and
dinners spread throughout the evening.
From what countries are Maria and Jim from?

USA

BRAZIL

Jing and Jeb developed a friendship after

they bumped into each other in the gym.
They had a great connection and would
often invite each other to their houses for
dinner with their families. When Jing
thought of a business idea, she immediately
approached Jeb and explained to him the
proposal. Jeb looked was very critical and
looked at each detail closely, treating Jing
as if she was a stranger.
From what countries are Jing and Jeb from?

CHINA

GERMANY

You are Australian and you are hosting a

dinner party to welcome your business
partners from Japan.
What do you do?

Put more time and effort into

organizing meals to be shared.
Dont throw out the socializing
altogether.

People from which country are more likely

to set one-on-one meetings despite not
having anything specific to talk about?

USA

PORTUGAL

The Head or The Heart

TWO TYPES OF TRUST AND
HOW THEY GROW