How to Turn Trust into Your Leadership Superpower

In a fast-paced world filled with constant change, increasing complexity, and shifting expectations, your success as a leader hinges on your ability to build and sustain trust.

Without trust, even the most well-intentioned strategies falter, teams become disengaged, and organizations lose their competitive edge.

In this article, you’ll discover three powerful insights that can transform your approach to leadership:

• Why Trust is Your Greatest Leadership Asset: Understand the pivotal role trust plays in driving performance, fostering innovation, and creating resilient, high-functioning teams—and why neglecting it can undermine even the best leaders.
• Actionable Ways to Build and Sustain Trust: Learn practical, proven methods to cultivate trust through the foundational behaviors of character, competency, and transparency, and gain access to the ‘Trust Self-Check’ tool that will help you identify trust gaps.
• Turning Technology into a Trust-Building Powerhouse: Discover how the right technology can be more than just a communication tool—it can be a catalyst for trust and transparency by ensuring every voice is heard, and decisions are made transparently.

To truly harness the power of trust, we must first acknowledge the long-standing erosion of trust and its profound impact on leadership and organizational culture. Let’s explore how this crisis of distrust has developed over time and why addressing it head-on is essential for any leader committed to making trust their superpower.

The Erosion of Trust

Distrust is a deep-seated crisis that has been growing for decades, and as leaders, it's critical to confront this reality head-on. Events like the Vietnam War and Watergate have been unraveling trust in institutions and leadership since the 1960s.

The economic struggles of the 1970s only deepened the distrust, and every scandal since—from Enron’s collapse to the financial crises of 2008 and scandals like WikiLeaks, Edward Snowden’s revelations, and the Panama Papers—has chipped away at the foundation of trust even further.

Today, distrust has become a debilitating, destabilizing disease spreading through many organizations. And it is wreaking havoc on the foundations of trust that leaders rely on to drive success.

Leaders feel this pressure acutely. They know that when trust erodes, the impact is immediate and damaging—collaboration breaks down, decisions stall, and the collective energy of the organization dissipates.

Teams caught in the grip of distrust operate in silos, bogged down by suspicion, defensiveness, and finger-pointing. Instead of innovating, they are stuck in survival mode, each trying to protect their interests.

This is not just a sad story; it’s a call to action. It's a call to embrace leadership integrity with unwavering resolve and take bold, decisive action to rebuild trust in a world that desperately needs it.

Trust: Your Greatest Asset

Building and maintaining trust is not just a leadership responsibility—it’s a strategic imperative. Leaders who sustain success over time know that the level of trust in an organization directly impacts its performance.

A Towers Watson Worldwide Study found that organizations with high levels of trust outperform those with low trust by more than 280% in total shareholder ROI.

In environments where trust is low, you see conflict, disengagement, and inefficiency. Moderate trust leads to compliance without enthusiasm, while high trust enables creativity, collaboration, and alignment—the real drivers of success in today’s landscape.

Given the clear ROI of high trust levels, the case for building and maintaining trust is compelling. So how do you turn trust into your leadership superpower?

Begin by focusing on three foundational behaviors: character, competency, and transparency.

Foundational Behaviors for Trust

Character: Trust is rooted in character—leaders who demonstrate integrity, honesty, and consistency in every decision and action. Character isn’t just about knowing what’s right; it’s about living it, especially when the stakes are high. Leaders who embody strong character inspire confidence and set the tone for the entire organization.

Competency: Leadership is defined by results, not attributes. Competency goes beyond possessing skills; it’s about the ability to make sound decisions and consistently deliver on promises. This fosters a dependable environment where people are confident that their leader can navigate complexity and drive results.

Transparency: Trust thrives on transparency. When leaders are open about their intentions, processes, and decisions, they eliminate the guesswork and suspicion that fuel distrust. Transparency isn’t just about sharing good news; it’s about being honest about setbacks and challenges, which builds credibility and invites collective problem-solving.

Even when leaders rank high on all three of these foundational behaviors, trust is susceptible to the influences of a volatile and uncertain world.

How to Validate Trust

One of the greatest challenges in maintaining high trust levels is failing to recognize when trust is lacking.

Trust is not a static state; it is dynamic and vulnerable to shifts in behavior, miscommunication, and external pressures from an unpredictable world.

To preserve strong, genuine trust, leaders must stay alert and proactive. That’s where the Adaptive Leadership 'Trust Check' comes in. It's a practical tool that will help you evaluate and strengthen trust within your team or organization.

To maintain and strengthen trust, evaluate four dimensions of your current trust levels:

1. Predictability: Do people know what to expect from you?
2. Consistency: Do people believe you do what you say?
3. Confidence: Do people believe you pay attention to their interests?
4. Competence: Do people believe you have the capacity to perform your role?

You can use the 'Trust Check' to identify gaps, take targeted actions, and ensure that trust remains the robust foundation of your leadership.

*For a complimentary Trust Self-Check, email [email protected]

Turning Technology into a Trust-Building System

Technology has revolutionized our workspace, making platforms like Zoom and Slack indispensable for communication. Yet, despite their utility, these tools can also unintentionally distribute distrust: incomplete information, misunderstandings, unvoiced concerns, overlooked viewpoints, and decisions made without sufficient transparency.

At GEO Group Strategic Services, we believe that trust is the foundation of effective leadership and that it is essential for creative collaboration. WebCouncil?—our proprietary online system—is the cornerstone of our capability to deliver that.

We designed WebCouncil? to serve as a solution to common communication shortfalls. It enables leaders to seamlessly integrate diverse perspectives, find common ground, and make well-informed decisions with full transparency for both remote and in-office employees.

Below are some of the other benefits of WebCouncil?:

In a world flooded with technology, not all platforms are created equal. WebCouncil? stands out as a true superpower in building trust and transparency. It doesn't just gather input; it ensures every voice is heard, every decision is traceable, and every outcome is aligned with strategy.

*To schedule a complimentary demo of WebCouncil?, click here .

Summary

• Trust in institutions and leaders has been eroding for decades and now has become disruptive distrust that undermines collaboration and decision-making. Leaders must confront this reality head-on and restore trust.
• Without trust, strategies fail, engagement dwindles, and organizations lose their edge. Consciously building trust is the only antidote to distrust. A high level of trust enables creativity, collaboration, and alignment—the real drivers of success.
• To foster trust, leaders must focus on three foundational behaviors: character, competency, and transparency. However, even leaders who excel in these areas must actively validate and maintain trust.
• WebCouncil? by GEO Group Strategic Services is a powerful platform that enables leaders to seamlessly integrate diverse perspectives, find common ground, and make well-informed decisions with full transparency for both remote and in-office employees.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

LELAND RUSSELL is a global strategist and a pioneer in developing collaborative technology. He helps C-Suite Leaders achieve better alignment, faster decision-making, and improved strategic outcomes.

As the Founder/CEO of GEO Group Strategic Services LLC, he has served leaders in a wide range of Fortune 500 organizations, mid-size firms, and non-profits, helping them solve tough problems and achieve rapid results with the WebCouncil? platform he developed.

WINNING IN FASTTIME?

Leland co-authored Winning In FastTime?, a book widely endorsed by top executives, senior military leaders, and best-selling authors, one of whom hailed it as “a must-read handbook for 21st-century leaders.”

Leland's forthcoming book, "Winning In FastTime II: Adaptive Leadership for a Warp Speed World" will be released in January 2025.

ADAPTIVE LEADERSHIP ADVISOR

As an Adaptive Leadership Advisor, Leland guides leaders and organizations through dynamic conditions that require continuous collaborative change. Leland's advisory approach is centered around understanding the unique dynamics of each client's situation and then applying a blend of proven Adaptive Leadership practices, such as HOW TO: Navigate unpredictability with imperfect information; Harness Collective Intelligence to solve problems and shape solutions; Champion self-awareness, empathy, resilience, and flexibility; Foster a culture where new thinking is welcomed and learning is paramount.