Test: My Trust Level with My Direct Manager

Trust = (Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy) / Self-orientation

From The Trusted Advisor. A self-assessment of my working relationship with my manager after one year, checked item by item to see where the trust really stands.

Assessed relationship: Direct manager · Sam (working together for 1 year 2 months)

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🎯 Credibility (Do my words hold up?)

Positive

• Proven high-quality results (Q2 growth review cited by the director)
• Constructive feedback
• Prestigious certificates / reputation
• Sees the essence of complex issues
• Solves complex problems

Negative

• Insufficient expertise (real gap after moving into the growth domain)
• Lack of independent thinking
• Pretending to know
• Only criticizing without suggestions (occasionally only nitpicking in design reviews)

⏰ Reliability (Do my actions hold up?)

Positive

• Keeps promises
• Organized work
• Punctual (late to weekly sync twice…)
• Doesn't over-promise
• Calm under pressure

Negative

• Misses deadlines (analytics dashboard slipped two weeks in a row)
• Quality compromises
• Prioritizes urgent-over-important (constantly interrupted by firefighting)
• Repeating mistakes

💞 Intimacy (How close are we?)

Positive

• Frequent contact (weekly 1:1)
• Knows personal details (knows he cares most about data rigor)
• Shared interests / values
• Proactive attention
• Shared hardships (never weathered a major incident together)

Negative

• No contact outside work (zero personal connection)
• Don't know each other
• No deep communication (career planning never came up)
• Being unknown to the other

🪞 Self-orientation (the denominator — the lower the better)

Behaviors that lower S

• Faces problems proactively
• Shares credit
• Seeks solutions before excuses (last slip, I led with the reasons)
• Cooperative mindset

Behaviors that raise S (watch out)

• Avoiding problems
• Making excuses (yes, see above)
• Taking credit / blaming others
• Self-centered

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📊 Conclusion & Actions

• Current trust level: Above medium. The C and R base is solid, but I and S drag the overall level down — that's the intuition of the equation: however large the numerator, a large denominator dilutes trust all the same.
• Weakest element: I (Intimacy). Our 1:1s stay strictly business; we've never talked about growth aspirations. On S, I need to break the "explain first, solve later" habit.
• Next actions:
  1. In next week's 1:1, proactively ask for one piece of career advice — open one deep conversation;
  2. Switch delivery rhythm to "halfway sync on Wednesday" — transparency cures slipping;
  3. In the next review, offer an alternative before pointing out problems.