Cooperation Tools for Farm and Marketing Associations

8. How do we increase trust and transparency?

  • Work steps

    You can download the content of this section as a Word file → here.

    Why is it useful to address transparency and trust?

    Trust is a characteristic of the quality of a relationship. Trust is also an economic factor. To work with trust is more economical and efficient than to work without it. Trust exists initially in advance of doing anything about it. However, it can grown and shrink and is not immune to the effects of the operations of people in the business.

    Trust is created by good work performance and commitment, but also by creating transparency about all of the areas of responsibility and by dealing with essential questions of the work areas in a timely and effective manner.

    Trust grows in rhythm with setting agreements and reviewing what has been achieved, which saves energy, time and resources. Trust disappears "by itself" if relationships are not cultivated. The culture of dealing with conflicts is also a central theme that builds or reduces trust.

    The creation of trust is a process that requires perseverance from everyone involved. If mutual trust is lacking, it is usually due to a fundamental ambiguity in one of the previous sections. The loss of trust is a creeping process that often goes unnoticed for a long time.

    Work steps

    We recommend that the cooperation partners work together, but also individually, on the following questions.

    1. Haben alle Beteiligten die bisherige Arbeit an unserem Leitbild, unserer Strategie, unseren Aufgaben, den Fertigkeiten und Fähigkeiten, der Planung und Steuerung durchdrungen, verstanden und können die Ergebnisse diese Arbeit einem Dritten vorstellen?
    2. Ist so viel Wahrnehmung entstanden, dass nun eine „Wärmequalität“ untereinander spürbar wird?

    From our understanding of how trust is developed, it is important that a culture of trust is built, among other things, through transparency, e.g. through a good balance sheet that is understood by everyone.

    If there is not a noticeable “quality of warmth and good feeling,” it is probably because and trust did not develop in the sufficient quality. This could occurr because the preliminary work did not go deeply enough or went too fast and must now be deepened.

    In the view of the next step, which concerns contracts and agreements, each individual involved may ask themselves whether he/she has so enough confidence in the project and in the other people involved that he/she is willing to commit themsleves by signing a contract or agreement to the enterprise, to future of the community, and to an annual budget. If the answer is no, what else needs to be done?

  • Work document

    You can download our work document here: