How do you build and develop Trust as a Leader
Good morning, everyone. It’s Sal Celly. Hope you all are doing well. The weather here in Austin is really beautiful. It’s the first few days of spring. And it’s warm and sunny and everything is green and the flowers are blooming.
The importance of Trust
Today I want to write about a very important topic-how do you build and maintain trust as a leader. This is critical, because trust is the foundation of any successful, sustainable and long term relationship. If you don’t have trust, you don’t have anything. This is my opinion. And this is equally important in your personal life as in your work life. As a leader, it becomes even more important when you are managing a team or you’re managing your household or you’re managing an enterprise that the folks that you have on your team are confident and know that you are trustworthy as a leader.
Why is that important? Because if they don’t, then you are not going to be able to drive them towards a common vision, you will not be able to inspire them, and you will not be able to motivate them. And as a result, people will start rowing in different directions, they will start singing from a different sheet of music. When that happens, everything falls down and the organization doesn’t grow. Discord and discontentment start to creep in. Employees do not perform as they should. They’re just doing the minimum; they are not maximizing their potential and everything breaks down-the whole structure and forward motion comes tumbling down like a deck of cards. So given how important it is for building trust, how can a leader create that trust and maintain it and build it?
There are a number of factors and I’m going to talk about that. But just to put some context, I want to talk about faith. Faith is confidence in what we hope for and an assurance about what we do not see. Now, if your employees have faith in you, and they have gone confidence in their hopes and achieving their dreams and their goals through you, and they have assurance about what they do not see, then they’re going to follow you and they’re going to trust you. That’s right. So how does that happen? How can you build that trust and inspire and generate that faith and confidence and assurance in your team?
Key components of Building & Maintaining Trust
The first and foremost thing is-do you care about the person? People will forget about what you say to them or what you do to them, but they will never forget about how you made them feel. How do you make sure that you truly and realistically care about the person and that you put them first- you focus on their goals and their priorities and you help them achieve that, while they are helping the organization achieve it’s desires and objectives. When the two are in alignment, great things happen. So the first step is, do you care about them?
Number two, what is your character and your integrity? These are so important and such critical and fundamental building blocks of trust, that they cannot be overstated. You need to demonstrate in your actions that you are a person of character and that you are a person of integrity. You have to have a very high Say-Do ratio. What do I mean by that? Talk is cheap, but if you execute, you Walk the Talk-people know where they stand with you. They know that when you say something, you’re going to follow through and you’re going to do it. So that is very, very important. Having high integrity, high character and a high, say do ratio.
Competence is the third factor. You need to be skilled at what you’re doing. When you are skilled and you are competent, people get inspired, they feel confident in your abilities, and they know that the organization and their livelihood and their family’s livelihood is safe and secure in your hands. Competencies in the right areas is important and critical in creating, and building Trust as a leader.
Ability is the fourth ingredient-are you able to execute and are you able to drive the organization where it needs to go? Do you have the ability to charter the ship successfully to it’s destination? You have the opportunity with every interaction that you have, to either strengthen the foundation of trust or to weaken it. Trust takes time to be built, but it can be weakened and destroyed very quickly. Make sure to view every interaction as an opportunity for you to demonstrate trust and to exhibit your competence and ability. And your expertise. Show that you are full of integrity, and most importantly, that you care-that you have empathy, and that you’re putting the other person’s interests first and foremost and at the center of every interaction.
Impact of Building & Maintaining Trust
When you do that, the other person opens up recognizes that you are a trusted adviser for them, and they will share with you what is of importance to them and how you can help them. Trust is the firm foundation-it is a necessary condition for you to have a consistent and repeatable exchange of value. If you don’t have that Trust, everything is going to topple over, when there is any external pressure from the outside. You have a responsibility as a leader in your household and as a leader in your workplace to create that environment that is built on trust. Because as I said, if there is no trust there is nothing. Please put that into practice, and you will see the difference.
When there is Trust, you and your team will develop the right mindset, be more in control, have better mental and physical health and a more positive and balanced perspective on life. Their overall health and wellbeing will improve. The quality of their relationships and their productivity will get better. They will be more aligned with the goals of the organization, and they will put in their best and maximize their human potential. When that happens, everyone gains and all boats rise with the tide.