The Head or The HeartTWO TYPES OF TRUST AND

HOW THEY GROW

trust from the head, trust from the heart

Two Types of Trust

AFFECTIVE TRUSTArises from feelings of emotional closeness,

empathy, or friendship

COGNITIVE TRUSTBased on the confidence one feels in another

person’s 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

1

2

Build on common interests

Look a little harder

Showing Your True Self

TASK-BASED CULTURE

• Show the best “me”

• Politically correct

• Don’t dare to complain or show negative

emotion

RELATIONSHIP-BASED CULTURE

• Show nonprofessional self

• Leave concentration behind

• Don’t worry about saying or doing the wrong thing

• Be yourself-personal self, not business self

Showing Your True Self

1

2

Brings back to the business the

value of trust

Relationship with person

provides a safety net

3 Often save time in the long run

Benefits in Affective Relationship Building:

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: Don’t throw out the socializing

altogether.

In some cultures, sharing drinks—

particularly alcoholic drinks—is

equally important.

Consider Meals Carefully

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-BASEDRELATIONSHIP-

BASED

Medium of

CommunicationMore 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

TASK-BASEDRELATIONSHIP-

BASED

Medium of

CommunicationMore efficient

More

social/interactive

Response to

People One Has

Never Met

Favorable and rapid

response

Unfavorable and slow

to no response at all

Length of Social

TalkShort Long

Communication Medium

STRATEGY

For meetings and phone calls

• Let the other lead

• Initiate the social cues

For e-mails

• Mimic the other’s 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!

1Marina and Jim (both coming from different

countries) met to discuss a certain

acquisition. Marina’s team visited Jim’s

location and there spent 3 days of intense

and difficult negotiations, ordering

sandwiches for lunch, and taking only short

pauses throughout the day. Jim’s team also

visited Marina’s 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

2Jing 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

3You 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.

Don’t throw out the socializing

altogether.

4People 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 HeartTWO TYPES OF TRUST AND

HOW THEY GROW