What has trust got to do with leadership?
Well everything!
Leadership is about connecting with others hearts and minds. To get people to follow you in one way, shape or form. Those followers may be your team, your peers, your stakeholders, your manager, your customers or even potential team members…
What is trust?
A dictionary definition of trust is ‘ a firm belief in the reliability or ability of someone’. It’s not something you can hold. It’s one of those intangible qualities that is confirmed by an internal check. It’s not automatic. You have to earn the trust of another and it takes time to build.
It’s also a foundation piece of your personal brand. A great brand is trusted and relied upon by its’ users in any field of work and life.
How do you build trust?
Trust has many levels and it will depend on the context. For example; I may trust you to drive my car but not fix my washing machine; or I may trust you to do some detailed analysis but not to present to the Board.
This brings me to the first way to build trust – competence. Are you competent in the area of work, topic for discussion? Do you have the right amount of knowledge and skills? Are you able to demonstrate you can do what is required?
If you can demonstrate your competence then you’re part way there.
Another element to building trust being consistent. Are you consistent in the way you deliver, behave and communicate? If you are consistently late or don’t finish things you won’t necessarily get people on your side. They are unlikely to trust you to deliver and may request more updates and check on progress more frequently.
Finally, there is commitment. Are you committed to the task in hand, the team, and the organisation? Commitment is driven by your motivation and what’s important to you. It has an energetic quality that people intuitively pick up.
What can you do when trust is broken?
Trust is often broken when you have failed to demonstrate one or all of the above elements – competence, consistency or commitment. In many situations it is possible to regain it, however it won’t happen automatically. You can’t talk your way out of a problem that was created by behaviour. You have to behave your way back into trust.
The first step, if it’s possible, is to have a conversation. If you know the behaviour that created this ‘problem’, apologise and clarify what you will do differently. If you don’t know, or are not clear, seek feedback and agree a way forward.
My advice is to take action quickly. Distrust creates suspicion. People become more guarded and this can perpetuate into a downward spiral. None of us want that do we?
Trustworthy Leadership
When you gain peoples trust and seen as trustworthy things happen more quickly and costs go down. If you are not convinced of this look at those relationships where you know you are trusted. I’m guessing you take less time getting their buy-in and things happen quicker and more smoothly than it does with those whom you are just starting to build trust with.
How good are you at building and earning the trust of others?
- Are you as a leadership brand trustworthy?
- Can you be relied upon?
- Do you feel those in your network trust you?
- If not what’s your first step to changing the situation?
Trust takes time to build and can be destroyed in an instant.The benefits outweigh the costs, gaining and maintaining trust will enable you to be much more effective and efficient in all that you do.
“Anything that has value in life only multiplies when it is given.”
Deepak Chopra
