I want you to think about someone that you trust. Take a moment and think about what you put your trust in them for. Is it advice, health, career, politics, love, or friendship?
Why do you trust this person? Is it because of their education, experience, past behaviours, honesty, integrity or values?
All of these traits lead to that person’s credibility.
How long did it take to build this trust?
If the trust and credibility are there, how willing are you to take a risk with this person?
If you lose trust in this person, how long would it take to rebuild? Do you think it could be rebuilt?
It is important for a leader to realize that trust is the foundation for the relationships they have with those they lead. The more a team trusts their leader, the more risks they are willing to take with them.
Whether that risk is having the courage to try something new, confide fears, take advice and apply it, or know that if they try a new approach or put themselves out there that the leader will support them even if it is not the approach they would have taken.
When it comes to trust self-awareness is key. A team is looking for a leader to lead by example and to lead with integrity. It is easy to lose a team’s trust, even something small that may not appear to be of consequence to the leader can be paramount for the team.
For example, if a leader says they will put their trust in someone to handle a situation and make the decisions required to move forward and then micromanages the decisions along the way, they will lose trust. If the leader does not have the level of trust in their team to let them handle the situation, they shouldn’t delegate it completely, but try working together until that trust is built. The leader needs to assess the amount of risk in handing the decisions and work over to another member of the team.
How can you regain trust once lost? Be transparent, honest and authentic.
For example,
“ I realize that when I told you I trusted you to handle that situation last week, I checked in too often to see how you were handling it and offer my opinions. It was uncomfortable for me to let go because I am not used to delegating those kinds of tasks. In the end your decision was better than what I wanted to do and I should have let you handle it like I said I would. Moving forward, I will let you make these decisions and provide any support you need, but I wont step in out of my own fear of losing control of the situation.”
In this example, the leader is honest and transparent about how they felt about the situation, which leads to an authentic delivery.
The important thing to remember here is if these words are said, the leader needs to mean and follow through with them. Otherwise, trust is lost again and will be much harder to regain.
A leader’s actions can also impact the level of trust amongst the team they support. For example, if a leader holds a certain team member to different standards than others on the team this can cause jealously, contempt and lead to mistrust. The team questions why that person gets an easier ride, more autonomy, better projects etc. The leader needs to be transparent and honest about why they are making these decisions and let the rest of the team know how they can reach the same level of trust with the leader. Or, if the situation is different for a certain team member, the leader needs to be able to explain why in a factual and specific way.
What tips do you have for building and maintaining trust?
What other trust destroying behaviours can you think of?
What advice do you have to a new leader to help build trust with their team?