“When superiors esteem trust and employ the lower ranks with sincerity, they will exhaust their emotions without any doubts and never fail to be victorious in battle.”
Enamoured by the glamour and glitz of the present social media marketing trend, many of us may forget one important factor – trust.
Trust plays a pivotal role in how our society function. When there is trust between the people and their government, the Covid-19 situation is better controlled; teams function better to reach a shared goal; a service provider can better provide value for their clients; and business partners find their actions aligned.
However, since the chapter in Liu BoWen’s 100 Unorthodox Tactics clearly emphasized trust between team members, here is an easy way to determine trust between yourself as a middle manager with your subordinates and your immediate superior using a Qi Men Dun Jia chart.
In all cases where a team’s condition is being examined:
- The Day Stem represents the asker
- The Hour Stem represents the subordinates
- The Month Stem represents the immediate superior
In this example, the Hour Palace (2) produces the Day Palace (1), indicating that there is already trust between the asker and the subordinates. However, the Day Stem (1) is being countered by the Month Palace (3), suggesting that the asker does not really have the trust of his/her immediate superior.
Therefore, the solution to gaining the trust from the immediate superior lies in the North Palace, coincidentally where the Hour stem resides. The formation within the North Palace suggests a need for better communications to be in place as well as the need to resolve petty internal squabbles. Once resolved, trust can be established through consistency, credibility and sincerity.
Do you think office politics is holding you back? Get in touch to gain some clarity.
Permission Statement: The Qi Men Dun Jia Chart referred in this web article is copyrighted material belonging to, and is used with permission from Dato Joey Yap and Joey Yap Research Group Sdn. Bhd. For more information on services and courses offered by Dato Joey Yap and the Joey Yap Research Group Sdn. Bhd., please visit www.joeyyap.com