Trust is a critical component of any successful relationship, whether personal or professional. In this episode, we talk with Austin Govella, a cofounder of The Synozur Alliance and an experienced designer, about the skill of building trust.

Comments, questions, and your own tips for building trust are welcome on Twitter (https://twitter.com/skilledby) or at our website (https://skilledbydesign.com).

Tips from this episode:

• Be honest and transparent in your communications.
• Seek to understand the needs and perspectives of others.
• Focus on delivering value and follow through on your commitments.
• Practice active listening and empathy.

About Austin:

Austin Govella is a cofounder of The Synozur Alliance, a consulting firm that helps clients improve the employee experience. With 25 years of experience in design, Austin has worked with a wide range of clients to create better user experiences. He is the author of Collaborative Product Design and Work the Room, a book about workshop facilitation.

Connect with Austin:

• Austin's blog: https://www.agux.co/
• Austin's LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/austingovella
• Work the Room: https://www.agux.co/book/work-the-room

Resources mentioned in the interview:

• Workshop checklist: https://www.agux.co/workshops/checklist
• The trust equation: https://trustedadvisor.com/why-trust-matters/understanding-trust/understanding-the-trust-equation

What are the skills you need to be a better researcher or to make research a more deliberate part of your workflow or toolkit?

The two co-founders of research-insight focused and London-based Dualo join us to share their insights about research skills.

Please rate and review the podcast!

Also, comments and questions are welcome on twitter: [https://twitter.com/skilledby](https://twitter.com/skilledby)

Tips from this episode:

• Develop your proactive muscles. Don't wait for permission to do research.
• Learn to deliver informed decisions, not just data sets.
• Constantly improve and refine your ability to ask good questions
• Get organized and make research a habit.

About Nick, Dan, and Dualo:

Nick Russell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nsrussell/
Dan Robins: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielpaulrobins/

Dualo is a stakeholder-friendly research repository that helps product teams to organise, connect, and showcase their key research findings across the wider organisation.

Website: www.dualo.io

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/dualohq

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Thanks for listening! 

Find a glossary of over 100 soft skills on our website: https://skilledbydesign.com/skills

Intro/outro music credit: Weero & Mitte

Is learning a skill? How about enabling learning for others? Yup, they're for sure skills; important ones. Jethro Jones, host of the Transformative Principal podcast, joins us to talk about learning and education. He shares some great insights for thinking longer-term as we educate the rising generation of citizens, workers, and leaders.

Please rate and review the podcast!

Also, comments and questions are welcome on twitter: [https://twitter.com/skilledby](https://twitter.com/skilledby)

Tips for improving your learning skills:

- If you want to learn a skill, ask people questions about it to show that you're interested and that it's important to you.
- Think beyond the short-term to the long-term benefits of learning that skill
- Never stop learning

You can find my friend Jethro, his podcast, and his books here:

- https://jethrojones.com
- https://twitter.com/jethrojones
- https://transformativeprincipal.com/
- https://www.amazon.com/SchoolX-principals-transformative-experience-themselves/dp/1913622118
- https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09X5TGRR6/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

Jethro's bio:

Jethro Jones, 2017 Digital Principal of the Year, is a former principal and host of Transformative Principal Podcast. He is also the founder of The Center for Cyberethics, independent, non-partisan educational institute dedicated to the study and promotion of cyberethics, and author of the book, SchoolX: How principals can design a transformative school experience for students, teachers, parents – and themselves! He also recently released a second book, How to Be a Transformative Principal. Jethro has worked as a principal at all K-12 levels, including a prison school, a district coach, distance learning team lead, and English teacher. He lives with his wife and four children in Washington state.

Find a glossary of over 100 soft skills on our website: https://skilledbydesign.com/skills

Intro/outro music credit: Weero & Mitte