- Home
- Study guide
- Module 1
- Topic 1: What is Student Digital Civic Engagement?
- Topic 2: How is Digital Civic Engagement Impacting Universities (and Beyond)?
- Topic 3: What Competences do Student Civic Engagers Develop?
- Topic 4: What does Student Digital Civic Engagement Look Like in Practice?
- Evaluation test for module 1
- Resources and further studies (Module 1)
- Module 2
- Topic 1: Problems that need solving – spotlight on global issues
- Topic 2: Improving your community through civic engagement
- Topic 3: Taking a service-learning approach to an DCE project
- Topic 4: DCE is building your competency levels. Here are the opportunities
- Evaluation test for module 2
- Resources and further studies (Module 2)
- Module 3
- Topic 1: What Do Great Digital Civic Engagement Projects Include?
- Topic 2: Getting Involved In Your First Digital Civic Engagement Project/ Initiative
- Topic 3: Using Technology To Enhance Your Civic Engagement Work
- Topic 4: Designing/ Delivering Digital Civic Engagement Solutions
- Evaluation test for module 3
- Resources and further studies (Module 3)
- Module 4
- Module 5
- Topic 1: Estimating Project Costs And Financial Needs
- Topic 2: Spotlight On Lean Start Up and Sustainable Business Model Canvas
- Topic 3: Crowdfunding Your Civic Engagement Projects /Causes
- Topic 4: Leveraging the power of corporate social responsibility
- Evaluation test for module 5
- Resources and further studies (Module 5)
- Module 6
- Topic 1: Why Building Credibility, Trust and Relationships are Key
- Topic 2: Cultivating and Growing a Student Civic Engagement Community
- Topic 3: Spotlight on Mission Marketing
- Topic 4: Technology Tools to Help You Share and Spread Your Civic Engagement Work
- Evaluation test for module 6
- Resources and further studies (Module 6)
Topic 1: Why Building Credibility, Trust and Relationships are Key
This topic examines how to design and work within a DCE team. Building upon the information contained in the third module, learning outcomes of this topic should be that students are given an idea of how to create a group of people to create a DCE project, and that students can analyse what skills teammates have and how to put them into a successful group.
Building Trust and Credibility is Key
Trust is an important factor to marketing your DCE project. If your project lacks credibility, it may, in turn, be less attractive to people.
Trust and credibility can be both internal and external factors. If your project lacks credibility internally, you might struggle to find volunteers willing to work on your project.
An external lack of trust might mean that people are not engaged by your project and their support is not forthcoming. This may mean it may fail.
How to Build Trust for an DCE Project?
One of the fastest ways you can build trust within your DCE project is to ensure that you have the right leaders in place for the project. A leader who is passionate about the project and has a strong focus on trust as a value to the project is likely to increase trust on both an internal and external level.
There are three steps that you can follow when creating your DCE project that will help to build a culture of trust.
Step 1 to Build Trust in a DCE Team
The first step is to approach potential issues/ conflicts as a team rather than as competitors.
Within your DCE team, is it important to remember that everyone is working together to have a positive impact on our civic engagement. If a team member makes a mistake, own it as a team and address it together. By ensuring a culture of trust within your team you will help to ensure the success of your DCE project.
Step 2 to Build Trust in a DCE Team
The second step is to communicate transparently with each other to inspire trust.
Transparency is a key element to ensure that your DCE project and team have strong trust between each other. By having transparency surrounding all internal and external project information, it ensures that team members do not feel left out and false information does not spread throughout the group.
Step 3 to Build Trust in a DCE Team
The third step is to practice strong communication.
While this step might seem obvious, one of the greatest sources of trust is listening and communicating well with one another. By practicing skills such as active listening, and ensuring every team member is heard, it can help to iron out issues as they occur. By actively listening to all team members, it can also help to create a stronger team where everyone is respected.
Bulding Trust in a Remote Team
Given our worlds have changed so much as a result of Covid-19, it is important to also identify how trust can be built over a virtual environment.
Here are a few tips to help build trust remotely:
1. Build rapport with 1:1 meetings
2. Encourage teammates with positivity
3. Create short term goals
Check out this Ted Talk on 7 tools for building a business that people can trust.
https://youtu.be/lJUrQKY_A5g?t=12
Quick Test
