You're stepping into a leadership role with skeptical stakeholders. How can you build trust and credibility?

The better you understand the other person, the easier it is to build trust. You make the other person feel heard. You make the other person feel important. You make the other person feel like you truly care. So spend time to listen. And listening is just as much about asking great insightful questions, that shows that you have actually heard what was being said. Use your ears. Ask insightful and clarifying questions. And keep a positive body language that shows your engaged. Then you're well on your way to craft a solid foundation to build trust on.

Listening starts with asking great questions. Think about what you want to learn about your stakeholders and how you can craft questions in a way that creates this open space for you to then be able to listen well. Far too often, new leaders come with their agenda ready to get started on their initiatives. It can be the greatest plan in the world, but if you aren't involving others from the get go and welcoming their two cents into the process, you're going to turn people away. Questions like, "what matters most to you when it comes to how this position is occupied?" or, "what's the best way for us to communicate, particularly through disagreements?" or, "how do you see our teams working together in the future?"

Come into your new role prepared to observe for the first 90 days. Meet with team members individually and in a group setting and express your commitment to a culture of feedback. With that comes an openness to listen to whatever issues they'd like to approach you about. Listen to the concerns of your team before jumping to any conclusions and making changes. This will build trust from the very beginning.

Take the time to listen and to deeply understand why each stakeholder is skeptical. Demonstrate solutions to their skepticism and seek out your ally. Someone recognized your potential for this role and that person may be supportive in championing or mentoring you through this experience.

You can also build trust by institutionalizing listening. One way to do that is to do a “listening tour” in your first month as a new leader: Identify your internal and external stakeholders. Approach them for a 1-hour interview about their objectives, needs, and pain points, both related to your team and in general. Take notes and consolidate your findings. By doing so, you’re showing that you care while building competence about your organization and environment. These interviews will also allow you to frame your plans in terms of your stakeholders’ needs and objectives, helping you to get buy-in from them later. When doing this, take a top-down, inside-out approach to avoid inadvertently crossing any boundaries

As I reflect on the essence of empathy in leadership, I believe that embracing Spiritual Intelligence can deepen this connection further. Spiritual Intelligence encourages us to not only understand emotions but also perceive the deeper “Spiritual Needs” of individuals. By tapping into this dimension, leaders can foster a Holistic understanding that transcends surface-level interactions. When we authentically connect on a Spiritual Level, we create a profound sense of trust and unity that goes beyond words. Through this lens, empathy becomes a gateway to building a transformative and enduring bond with our stakeholders.

One problem when trying to build trust as manager is that demonstrating your competence can easily come across as demonstrating another person’s incompetence even if that wasn’t your intention at all.Are you accountable for your team members’ performance?Does that mean you need to correct every little mistake that they make? Don’t be the manager who asks the designer to change the color of a website button or makes spurious edits in the content writer’s copy to achieve a marginal improvement that most likely only you can see. Don’t be the manager who holds people accountable to expectations that have never been clearly articulated. And most importantly, don’t be the manager whose first impulse is to assign blame when

Showing empathy as a leader involves understanding and sharing the feelings of stakeholders. Acknowledge their skepticism with compassion and patience, demonstrating awareness of challenges and commitment to collaborative solutions. This humanizes your leadership, enhancing relatability and trust among stakeholders.

3. Demonstrate Competence Showcase Experience: Share your relevant experience, qualifications, and past successes that are pertinent to the current role. Quick Wins: Identify and execute on quick wins that can immediately add value and demonstrate your capability. 4. Build Relationships Trust-Building Activities: Engage in team-building activities and informal interactions to build rapport. Collaboration: Foster a collaborative environment where stakeholders feel their contributions are valued.

Empathy involves understanding and sharing the feelings of others. As a leader, showing empathy to stakeholders means acknowledging their skepticism and addressing it with compassion and patience. Communicate your awareness of the challenges and your commitment to working through them together. This approach humanizes you, making it easier for stakeholders to relate to and trust you.

To build credibility with stakeholders, focus on delivering quick wins aligned with their values and goals. These successes needn't be monumental; small yet significant achievements demonstrate your competence and dedication. Consistently exceeding expectations fosters confidence in your leadership abilities over time.

Deliver Results Set Clear Goals: Establish clear, achievable goals and deliver on them consistently. Accountability: Hold yourself and your team accountable for meeting commitments and deadlines.

This depends on the nature of role and the context of skepticism. Michael Watkins in his book ‘The First 90 Days’ writes about different kinds of situations as one takes over a new role. So a leader may assess the situation and decide on the quick wins or the need to establish competence.

Follow through on commitments. To be reliable, leaders must ensure their actions line up with their words. Employees will quickly lose faith in a leader if they can’t rely on the leader to do as they say. Establish expertise. Employees don’t expect their leaders to know everything, but they do need to hold a certain level of confidence in their leaders’ capabilities. To build their confidence, root ideas in sound evidence, suggest industry best practices, and share trends, insights, and resources relevant to the team’s function. Demonstrate integrity and fairness. All team members should be able to rely on their leaders for fair treatment, especially when it comes to growth opportunities. Provide all team members with learning experience

To build credibility with stakeholders, focus on achieving quick wins that align with their values and goals. These successes, even if small, demonstrate your competence and commitment. Consistently meeting and exceeding expectations will gradually turn skepticism into confidence in your leadership. By showing tangible results, you establish trust and prove your capability to lead effectively.

Empower Others Delegate Appropriately: Show trust in your team by delegating tasks appropriately and providing them with the autonomy to succeed. Support and Development: Invest in the development of your team, providing the support and resources they need to excel. 7. Be Honest and Ethical Integrity: Always act with integrity and honesty. Avoid making promises you can’t keep. Transparency: Be transparent about challenges and setbacks, and share your plans for addressing them.

Transparency is a key in building trust and relationships with your stakeholders. Sharing the rationale behind your actions, updating on progress, raising flagd on issues identified - how they may impact your committed outputs, what you are going to do about it, and how they can help to address the situation (if relevant). Stakeholders appreciate openness. It allows them to understand where things are and take actions when needed sooner than later. It

Share information openly and candidly. Keep the team updated on what’s going on in the company and at the senior leadership level. Don’t withhold resources from employees or make decisions in secret. Provide regular feedback. Be clear about the team vision and expectations of team members. Share how employees are tracking toward their performance—both positively and constructively. Encourage open communication. Create an environment where employees feel comfortable speaking up and voicing their opinions—even if those opinions differ from leadership. Leaders can follow formal processes, such as anonymous surveys, as well as informal processes, such as asking employees for their thoughts on a workplace topic at regular check-in meetings.

A clareza nas a??es e na comunica??o s?o os pilares da confian?a. Quando conduzimos as rela??es no pilar da transparência, fica claro a todos o que quer, como quer, quando e principalmente o por que. Agindo assim a chance de erro é zero!

Transparency is crucial for building trust. Keep stakeholders informed about your actions and the reasons behind your decisions. Open communication reduces uncertainty and mitigates skepticism. Address setbacks proactively and share your plans to overcome them. Stakeholders value honesty and are more likely to support you when they understand your thought process.

If people feel they’re doing well, that feeling alone will greatly enhance their expectancy and self-efficacy, and hence their motivation and ability to do well. As a leader, you have a crucial part to play in setting the mood on your team. Instead of a vicious flywheel of mistrust, you can set in motion a virtuous flywheel of trust and confidence on your team by focusing on, amplifying, and reinforcing what’s going well. Of course, that doesn’t mean turning a blind eye to problems or abdicating responsibility by shying away from addressing issues promptly and constructively. But you’re doing no one—including yourself—a favor if you get too preoccupied with what isn’t going well while failing to notice—and amplify—all the positive aspects.

8. Seek Feedback and Adapt Feedback Loop: Create a feedback loop where stakeholders can share their thoughts and suggestions. Continuous Improvement: Show that you are willing to adapt and improve based on feedback. 9. Lead by Example Model Behavior: Demonstrate the behaviors and work ethic you expect from others. Commitment: Show commitment to the organization’s mission and values through your actions.

Building strong personal relationships with stakeholders can turn skepticism into support. Invest time in getting to know them personally, understanding their backgrounds and interests. This approach helps to break down barriers and foster camaraderie. By forming these connections, you create allies who will advocate for your leadership and support your initiatives within the organization.

Consistency in messages across all stakeholders would go a long way in establishing long term trust. If all my stakeholders are in the same room, will my stance still remain intact and no stakeholder gets any surprises?

10. Leverage Existing Trust Allies: Identify and leverage allies within the organization who already have the trust of stakeholders. Partnerships: Collaborate with trusted colleagues to co-lead initiatives and demonstrate your value. By implementing these strategies, you can gradually build trust and credibility with skeptical stakeholders, proving your effectiveness and leadership abilities through consistent actions and results.

Be true to yourself in all endeavors and consistency should come naturally. When humans are not operating from their true selves, sooner or later there will be inconsistencies in their behavior and actions. Dealing with stakeholders is a human relation first and a business relation second. As such, letting your stakeholder know how you operate and work (over time), provides certainty and trust within the relationship. Even when things may go south, staying consistent and transparent brings huge dividends.

Deliver on Promises: Make commitments you can keep and follow through on them. Consistently meeting your commitments builds a reputation for dependability. Communicate Clearly: Regular and transparent communication helps stakeholders understand your vision and the steps you're taking to achieve it.

Start with self-awareness. Leaders become more authentic when they begin with knowing who they are—what they value, what they’re good at, how emotionally intelligent they are—and how others perceive them. Show vulnerability. When leaders reveal their trip-ups and failures, they are seen as more approachable and less arrogant[4], but showing vulnerability isn’t always easy. Start by sharing lessons from past mistakes or areas of development. Embrace the journey. The path to authenticity can be tricky. Nevertheless, the answer is not in pushing away difficult emotions or situations that might arise, but in embracing the ups and downs. And, above all, learning from them and sharing those learnings with team members.

Building trust as a new leader with skeptical stakeholders is essential. Here are strategies from my book, "Cashing Out": Acknowledge Strengths and Weaknesses: Recognize your strengths and seek support where needed. Hire skilled managers to complement your leadership. Set Clear Goals and Communicate: Establish a clear vision and communicate it consistently. Align your vision with stakeholders' interests. Show Empathy and Adaptability: Understand and address stakeholders' concerns with tailored solutions, building rapport. Be Transparent and Honest: Share successes and challenges openly. Transparency builds trust and shows integrity. These strategies foster trust and effective leadership.

When there are multiple stakeholders with different priorities, would be ideal for the leader to not take sides too soon or too strongly. Complex issues, age old differences across teams take a long time before all dimensions of skepticism come out in the open. People are not going to drop the skepticism in one day. Patience and persistence would be essential.

Find allies- even if they aren't the primary stakeholders, goodwill and positivity spreads, so embrace those that welcome you and show interest. Leverage that at the right times to take on the tougher stakeholders. Talk to Walk: communicate, observe, collaborate, act, prove yourself. Show up, stay the course, and prove that you are worthy. Do the things that no one else does: - Go towards the hard stuff, but important stuff - Be early, and often - Write handwritten thank you cards - Go in person to that place no one will travel - Spend time with your people - Spend time with your customer/stakeholders - Finish the job and follow-up - Show in data to prove your value through results - Take the time to develop yourself - Grow your people