Trustos Diaries

January 5th

Midnight had passed  and there was still light in one of the seminar rooms in the west wing of the conference center. Rita, Tim and Ronny  Edry were leading a discussion about the practical experience using TRUST as a currency at the Facebook headquarter over the last several months.

In the beginning when the idea was announced there was a lot of skepticism and even fear among the employees. It was felt that  participants  with a low score could be ostracized and put in a corner. People criticized a possible mandate. Many brought up the comparison to the popular Netflix series 'black mirror'  where in one sequence a popularity score was the theme.

The set up was such that participation was up to each employee and there was no mandate whatsoever.  Participants could show their profile on the platform as specific as wanted including the option to be completely anonymous. Any participant could obtain a identification number. If a participant wanted to give TRUST points to another person they could ask for their TRUSTOS  identification number. As an alternative participants could pose their identification number next to their name - or if they wanted to expose their entire entity the transaction of TRUST points could be done by just looking up the name of the participant.

The organizer however has the privilege to set the exchange rate - meaning the factor which would multiply or shrink the value of each transaction of TRUST. The organizer was per definition the one who did set up the platform - in case of Facebook it was Rita  - and subsequently the baton could be passed to the participants who owned the most TRUST. 

The exchange rate of the TRUST transaction would be completely transparent at all times and prone to adjustment based on internal conflicts or based on suggestions of participants.

Initially, a small group of people did start by signing up ..... An immediate impact was felt on the first day of starting the project, although subtle ......

The first days after implementing TRUSTOS (TRUST as a currency) people asked themselves can I trust myself...... It started by an increasing consciousness and awareness.  Initially the algorithm was set in a way that distrust between the lower level of employees and the higher level of employees and executives was addressed. Any exchange across these ranks was valued high by increasing the transaction with a multiplier of 10. 

That resulted in high level executives to engage with lower level of executives from day one to listen to their perceptions. Some of the lowest employees were rewarded with high scores from the get go and among the executives  there were some who engaged and did receive TRUSTOS and some who remained disconnected. Some who had not joined the idea of TRUSTOS were curious about the momentum and signed up. 

The fact that some signed up later did not result in a disadvantage since the TRUSTOS score was measure in an absolute number but also in a relative manner based on short time periods, regardless of the entry point.

After a few weeks people could tell without asking who had participated in the idea of TRUST. It became obvious that an aura of awareness and yes maybe kindness had evolved. 

But yes there was also different sort of behavior evident and yes there were moments of crisis which needed a tailored approach. One day there was some distress which seemed to be triggered by  different ethnicity or cultural background  among the divers pool of employees at Facebook.  Some employees who were raised in a traditional more hierarchical way had issues with the way they got confronted by employees who were raised in a more individualistic you could call it egocentric framework. 

There were complaints that people demanded to be rewarded TRUST points instead of asking others for their TRUST number to give away TRUST points. Rita had to adjust theses issues by adding another element to the algorithm rewarding transaction between employees with different cultural background higher than with the same cultural background. This immediately rewarded an exchange between employees of different ways to perceive and react on the same issues. 

After some weeks employees who were skeptical at first decided to join the network. People who looked up their performance realized that there were some heroes of TRUST and some who had been less successful to gain TRUST. Some who felt embarrassed by that kept their profile anonymous while still being able to get TRUST points but others would not tell their TRUST performance, since their profile was without identifier. Others who were more successful kept their profile personal and hoped to be an example for others. 

Eventually however more and more participants did switch from an anonymous to a personal profile. There were also meetings offered where participants could exchange their experience and come up with ideas to adjust the algorithm to address issues which come and go.

The algorithm hat grown more and more complex and was adjusted based on new emerging issues of disconnect and stress. 

Rita's role emerged into a guardian of the level of TRUST among the entire group .... Soon the penetration of employees participating in the TRUST as a currency project was close to 80%. After 3 month it was decided to add 2 more TRUST organizer to Rita, both of which had scored the highest among the participants. 

The sharing of the story how practical it was to implement TRUSTOS led to a long session of discussion which run into the early morning hours. It seemed to be obvious that the simple idea of focusing on TRUST and promoting it had the power to change behavior in a way which was beyond comprehension. Could it be replicated on a larger scale between countries....?