How To Build Trust As a Leader At Any Level

The findings of his 15-year longitudinal study of more than 3,200 leaders on organizational honesty for his book,?To Be Honest: Lead with the Power of Truth, Justice, and Purpose,?author Ron Carucci illustrates through powerful examples that to earn and keep trust, leaders must do more than demonstrate reliability and integrity. Executive coach Lolly Daskal points out that trust becomes more difficult to build and maintain when team members work remotely. To be trusted, says Carucci, "requires more." The more requires several essential actions. Here are four.

1. Match your actions to your words. When a manager tells her team that she values innovation but dismisses new ideas her team offers, she shows that she doesn't mean what she says. When companies fail to live up to the values they claim are essential to their mission, their words become hollow and disingenuous.
2. Live your values. First, state your values, so others aren't guessing and know what to expect. Second, live them. If you say that you value autonomy, yet you step in to micromanage how your team executes their objectives, you're not walking the walk.
3. Allow others to shine. As Daskal suggests, the best way to build trust is to extend trust to others. Support your people in their growth by giving them the authority to make decisions without interference or micromanagement. Model your behavior in ways that show you expect your team to meet expectations and accomplish what needs to be done.
4. Be a bridge builder. Silos exist in most organizations yet critical work happens across departmental boundaries. Sometimes competing metrics and goals across internal organizations breed mistrust. According to Carucci, "Those who build?alliances across those boundaries?earn greater trust, not just from their own teams, but from teams that once scorned them."

During the era of the Great Resignation, it's essential to earn and keep your trust as a leader or others will seek that trust elsewhere.

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