The Power of Trust to Succeed

The power of trust to succeedTrust is the most fundamental building block of any relationship whether in business, politics, marriage, family or friendships. In the real world, trust signifies different things to different people but it frequently boils down to one point: trust is essential to your success.

Once lost, rebuilding trust is one of the most difficult things to accomplish for the reason that the thought of the betrayal can forever haunt the aggrieved. Rebuilding trust is definitely tough, but it’s not something that can be ignored.

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How Great Leaders Build Trust and Increase Engagement

How Great Leaders Build Trust and Increase Engagement

 

A few weeks ago I recorded a podcast about the Power of Trust to Succeed and many people wrote and asked why it is that you can do something with the very best intentions but find that it backfires.

It seems that it is very easy to lose someone’s trust but oh so difficult to gain it back.

Think of trust as a wallet full of cash.

I know that it’s rare to have such a thing, but imagine, OK?

Say I have a couple of thousand bucks in various bills in my trust wallet. Every time I do or say something that causes you to lose faith in me, to lose your trust, for whatever reason, is like asking you to take whatever amount of cash out of my wallet.

Of course, being a normal human being, you’ll take the 100 dollar bills first.

If, foolishly I hurt you in some way again, you’ll take another chunk from my wallet. A third time and you’ll probably take the wallet and empty it.

Now I have no trust with you. Is there any way I can influence you if you don’t trust me? Of course not.

emPowered by the Leadership AdvantEdge

Brought to you by Dr John Kenworthy  

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Gaining trust with your new team

As a new team leader, it can be difficult to get your team to trust you. You have no history, and people do not know if they can rely on you and what you say.

However, if you set out the relationship the right way, you can create trust slowly. And, if you’ve faltered a bit in your trustworthiness, you can utilize the fundamentals of trust-building to recover your credibility, and move forward.

No matter what brings you to need to create trust, it’s vital that you take on the challenge.

When you have trust, you have the basis of building a high executing team. Without it, people will not accept your leadership, and they’ll invest so much time covering their backs that you’ll find it complicated to get whatever done.

If people do not trust you, no amount of team building or appreciation will motivate people to work together well. Without trust there is no “we”, and with no “we” there is no team.

To develop a high executing team you have to endorse yourself trustworthy. Your team must believe in you as any individual and as a leader. From there, they’ll work difficult to get the job done, for the reason that they know that you will not lead them astray.

Here are a few steps you can take to become a trustworthy leader.

Start with Self-Disclosure

People trust people that they know and comprehend. As a team leader you cannot afford to be mysterious.

When you first set out with a team, keep in mind that you share your environment with your co-workers. More than that, share who you surely are. develop a mini-bio that reveals something more than your work persona.

The better that people get to know each other, the easier it is to trust one another. People are curious by nature, and if you do not give them information, they’ll fill in the blanks for themselves. The judgments that people make about you can become “facts” to them.

Thwart fake assumptions upfront by encouraging people to share information about themselves. And take a lead by sharing yours first!

Make sure, too, that you have enough opportunities for you and your team to socialize and get to know one another. even though your goal is to work, your work will be much more efficient if you make time for fun too.

Tip:

As new people join your team and organization, consider circulating a short bio of them. Include facts and information that will help their colleagues relate to them better. keep in mind that you have the bio authorized by the incoming worker before sending it out, though!

Do What You Say and Say What You Do

Here, you should only make promises that you can keep. The surest alternative to lose trust is to go back on your word. When you fail to follow by means of, you cause disappointment and frustration.

When you’re not sure if you can deliver something, tell so. Your sincerity is much more crucial than your prowess. People would much rather go after the person that they can trust, compared with any individual who boasts about what he or she can do.

When you come to a commitment, take full task for seeing it by means of. This might mean saying “no” to a few requests. That’s okay, for the reason that it’s better than under delivering on a promise. keep in mind that you know what you’re skilled of, and what your restrictions are, before committing to whatever.

Tip:

When you first join a team, a great alternative to build trust is to accomplish a rapid win. keep in mind that your triumph is related and significant, and remember to share credit where credit is due. (However, be careful that you do not fall flat on your face with this first, high profile project!)

Clear communication is linked to this concept of doing what you tell. When you keep your team informed, you send an understandable message that you trust them. Trust goes in both directions, and when you give trust, you get it back even more so.

Be a Role Model

When it comes to trust, people answer to those who inspire them. We trust people who consistently prove high-quality habits. These include:

Honesty – only speak the truth, and practice transparency.

Integrity – decide a solid moral code and use it unfailingly.

Respect – never ask any individual to do something you wouldn’t do yourself.

Loyalty – stand behind your people, and your choices.

Fairness – apply similar standards, decisions and expectations to all members of your team.

Authenticity – be yourself. If you try to “fake it” you’ll be observed eventually. In the meantime, there will systematically be something “not quite right” about you. Getting trust from others starts with a company belief in the person you are.

Tip:

If you’re a newly-appointed manager or team leader, be a model of respectful pattern right from the set out. remain away from unflattering assumptions or judgments about your predecessor.

Also, do not come in prepared to change everything: what worked in your last team or organization may not work here. This team and its preceding leader worked difficult to establish their systems and habits – respect their work, and keep in mind that you work with your new team, not contrary it, to set your relationship on the right track.

Be Accountable irrespective

Take ownership of your actions and choices. This is easy when things are going well. When something goes wrong, even if, do not look to lay blame or find a scapegoat. A trustworthy leader steps up and accepts task.

It’s a good idea to encourage this level of accountability in every member of the team. keep in mind that everyone is clear what’s expected of them by agreeing a team charter, by putting up and delivering regular performance appraisals , and by giving feedback often. When the individuals in a team are all clear that they cannot hide behind the team, you’ll set out to get trustworthy pattern from everyone.

Tip:

Remember to trust your team members too. stay away from micromanaging and over-controlling habits. When your team realizes that you trust them, they’re more probable to trust you.

Be Present

In order to trust you, your team requires to know that you’re there for them.

  • Listen to your people, and surely hear what they are saying. if you do not understand a trouble or a circumstance, keep asking questions until you do.
  • Step out from behind email and memos. Meet with individual members of your team frequently. dialogue to them in person, and one-on-one, ideally every week. Use Management by Wandering Around to keep involved on a less-formal basis.
  • Give plenty of praise and encouragement. keep in mind that your team realizes how much you appreciate what they do daily.
  • Use body language successfully to ensure that you do not imply things that you do not mean.

Tip:

Find out what motivates individuals on your team. Learn what they think is working well, and what requires fixing. When your people feel that you genuinely care, they will trust that you have their absolute interests in mind.

Give Credit

To create trust, concentrate on building your people’s profile, not your own. When your team enjoys a win, permit them share in the credit and glory. Take a back seat, and give your people their time to shine.

Remember that an amazing leader is a humble leader. If you’re in the role for the right factors, then knowing that you did an amazing job, and permitting your team to reap their rewards, is all the reward that you require for yourself.

Establish Credibility

When you first set out with a new team, individual members of the team will know much more about their employments, the organization, and the circumstance, than you do.

Have the humility to learn what people do, and figure out how they do it. Discover from them what works, and what does not, and repair problems for people where you can. Learn as much as you can, as rapidly as you can, and you’ll soon decide credibility and respect.

Key Points

Gaining your team’s trust starts and ends with you. You have to behave in a trustworthy way right from the set out, and do so in all of your dealings with your team. Being selfless, and adopting a true team mentality are the foundations of building team trust, together with sharing who you are, making it clear what you stand for – and then “walking this talk” on a every day basis.

A well-known leader is one who’s confident in his or her capabilities, and who does not need too numerous accolades from others. When you’re comfortable with yourself, it’s simple to step back and enable others to shine. This is the pattern that absolute signals that trust is alive and well in your team.

Trust – the currency of leadership

Trust WorthyImage by elycefeliz via Flickr

Trust is a leader’s and a networker’s bankroll. With trust, he or she is solvent, without it, he or she is bankrupt.

A trusted networker, like a trusted leader, has a thick bankroll of crisp bills. Every time you act inconsistently with your professed values, or break a promise, you must spend some of those crisp bills – when the bankroll is gone, so is the trust that others have in you. At this point, your personal appeals or persuasive arguments cannot buy back that trust. Once lost, trust, and the personal credibility it took to gain it, may take years to regain.

Trust & Credibility

Trust is much more than credibility. Credibility is a necessary precursor to trust – before someone will place their trust in you, they have to believe in you. Trust is when a person places something of value to them into your care an stewardship because they believe that you will take good care and, usually, return to them something of greater value.

As a leader, the ‘something’ may be as obviously important as life – a military leader for example. It may be time or skills or an idea for a business leader. Whatever the situation, we place our trust in the leader. In turn, the leader trust you to deliver on your promise. The relationship is established beforehand, the leader’s credibility has been established and the result of this ‘transaction’ may reinforce or destroy trust.

In networking, the same rules apply. You might offer to introduce someone to a business opportunity. As the initiator, you must trust the person to be capable or risk your personal credibility and the trust your opportunity has in you. The individual you are introducing will also trust that you will genuinely do as you say and that it is a legitimate opportunity. Trust is a two-way street.

Establishing Trust
1. Be honest and open
The top leadership attribute of most admired leaders in Kouzes and Posner’s comprehensive survey is honesty. This isn’t just about telling the truth, it is also ‘doing what you say you will do’. And, it’s worth noting that honesty does not always imply that the truth is to your own liking nor the action something with which you agree.

Some networkers though fall into the ‘marketing trap’ – embellishing aspects of their business or person to such a degree that their honesty could quickly become suspect. It’s all very well having a fabulous 30 second ‘elevator pitch‘ designed to intrigue and excite others though if it is too far removed from honesty, you may soon be dealing out some of those crisp bills from your bankroll.

Trusted leaders are open and transparent – particularly ion this post-Enron world. The suspicion surrounding UK politicians currently has a lot less to do with their actual expense claims and a lot more to do with questions about why such claims should be so secretive. Openness also means being open to question. Your elevator pitch should (according to those far more expert in this) invite questions – your answers to those being a robust defense citing evidence that supports your pitch. Can you defend your elevator pitch?

2. Don’t hide bad news
Northern Rock has suffered a major fallout, in part because the leaders hid the bad news (or the potential for bad news), possibly even from themselves. As the bad news leaked out, savers who had entrusted their money queued to withdraw it immediately. To regain some trust, the UK Government had to spend rather more than a few crisp bills from its bankroll.

Advertising of financial or pharmaceutical products now carry a warning of the potential downside or side effects (albeit in tiny print or spoken at a rate few amphetamine addicts would understand). Should our elevator pitch contain such caveats? It would be honest.

3. Don’t over promise
Making promises you cannot keep? Why do politicians rate as the most untrustworthy of people? They promise the world and seldom deliver.

It’s a trap that many parents fall into. Talking to their kids about the exciting places they’re going to go and the fun they are going to have. From pimples – “you’ll grow out of it” to exhortions to study – “you’ll be able to do whatever you like when you graduate with honours”.

Networkers are prone to over promise – it’s considered perhaps an embellishment, a slight exaggeration or, the catch-all, marketing.

4. Walking the talk
Doing what you say you will do is probably the most critical component of trust. If any of the three points above are in doubt, there is little chance that you will be able to walk the talk.

How many times have you been to a networking event that ends in warm handshakes and empty commitments? When you say that you will introduce a friend to a contact, do it. If you say that you’ll pass on their contact information, do that. If you say that you’ll turn their business around and they will make 2 grand a month with just 4 hours work a week… Diligent follow-through sets you apart from the crowd and communicates trust.

Your trust bankroll is being spent every-time you:

  • speak falsehoods (however small)
  • hide bad news (even the potential of the downside)
  • over-promise or
  • under deliver
  • How to rebuild trust

    Even the greatest leaders can suffer a loss of trust. This may be the result of error in judgment or a mistake. Or circumstances may conspire against the leader (a favourite of politicians and ex-Northern Rock senior management).

    Networkers are also prone to losing trust – perhaps the result of adverse market conditions or the failure of a supplier or partner. A respected and trusted networker can lose years of building trusted relationships through introducing a connection who failed to deliver on their promise. So how do we rebuild damaged trust?

    Acknowledge the mistakes
    When decisions turn out unexpectedly, the leader owes his followers an explanation. Inflated egos can make a leader quick to assign blame or make excuses, but a mistake unacknowledged is compounded.

    A straightforward acknowledgment of the mistake should be the front end and made voluntarily. One forced (because I got caught) does nothing to re-establish trust. “I forgot to call” may not be something a networker likes to admit, but it’s more honest than making up a convoluted story of deceit that tries to shift responsibility elsewhere.

    Apologise
    Admitting that you are fallible, that what you did was wrong, that you made a mistake is an important step to accepting responsibility. Knowing that you made an error is one thing, admitting it to others, though painful, allows you (and often them helping you) to put the incident behind you and take action to avoid making the same mistake in the future.

    Make amends
    Find a way to make amends with people you have wronged. If you have harmed, make restitution. People often forget that undelivered promises frequently have cost the other party. If, for example, you agree to meet someone at 2pm, and turn up at 2.30 – you’ve just cost someone 30 minutes. Next time who will turn up and when?

    You may not be required to do so, and it may be that circumstances conspired against you, and it may be that it really truly wasn’t your fault – but accepting ownership and taking responsibility goes a long way to thickening that bankroll of trust.

    Trust is the bedrock of the bond between leader and follower, the bond that makes a network work. As a leader and as a networker, trust will make or break your success in any industry or circumstance.

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    Trust – a leader’s currency

    Trust is a leader’s bankroll. With trust, he or she is solvent, without it, he or she is bankrupt.

    A trusted leader, has a thick bankroll of crisp bills. Every time you act inconsistently with your professed values, or break a promise, you must spend some of those crisp bills – when the bankroll is gone, so is the trust that others have in you. At this point, your personal appeals or persuasive arguments cannot buy back that trust. Once lost, trust, and the personal credibility it took to gain it, may take years to regain.

    Trust & Credibility

    Trust is much more than credibility. Credibility is a necessary precursor to trust – before someone will place their trust in you, they have to believe in you. Trust is when a person places something of value to them into your care an stewardship because they believe that you will take good care and, usually, return to them something of greater value.

    As a leader, the ‘something’ may be as obviously important as life – a military leader for example. It may be time or skills or an idea for a business leader. Whatever the situation, we place our trust in the leader. In turn, the leader trust you to deliver on your promise. The relationship is established beforehand, the leader’s credibility has been established and the result of this ‘transaction’ may reinforce or destroy trust.

    In networking, the same rules apply. You might offer to introduce someone to a business opportunity. As the initiator, you must trust the person to be capable or risk your personal credibility and the trust your opportunity has in you. The individual you are introducing will also trust that you will genuinely do as you say and that it is a legitimate opportunity. Trust is a two-way street.

    Establishing Trust
    1. Be honest and open
    The top leadership attribute of most admired leaders in Kouzes and Posner’s comprehensive survey is honesty. This isn’t just about telling the truth, it is also ‘doing what you say you will do’. And, it’s worth noting that honesty does not always imply that the truth is to your own liking nor the action something with which you agree.

    Some networkers though fall into the ‘marketing trap’ – embellishing aspects of their business or person to such a degree that their honesty could quickly become suspect. It’s all very well having a fabulous 30 second ‘elevator pitch’ designed to intrigue and excite others though if it is too far removed from honesty, you may soon be dealing out some of those crisp bills from your bankroll.

    Trusted leaders are open and transparent – particularly ion this post-Enron world. The suspicion surrounding UK politicians currently has a lot less to do with their actual expense claims and a lot more to do with questions about why such claims should be so secretive. Openness also means being open to question. Your elevator pitch should (according to those far more expert in this) invite questions – your answers to those being a robust defense citing evidence that supports your pitch. Can you defend your elevator pitch?

    2. Don’t hide bad news
    Northern Rock, Lehman, Fannie and Freddie, HBOS and an increasing number of others have suffered a major fallout, in part because the leaders hid the bad news (or the potential for bad news), possibly even from themselves. As the bad news leaked out, savers who had entrusted their money queued to withdraw it immediately. To regain some trust, the UK Government had to spend rather more than a few crisp bills from its bankroll.

    Advertising of financial or pharmaceutical products now carry a warning of the potential downside or side effects (albeit in tiny print or spoken at a rate few amphetamine addicts would understand). Should our elevator pitch contain such caveats? It would be honest.

    3. Don’t over promise
    Making promises you cannot keep? Why do politicians rate as the most untrustworthy of people? They promise the world and seldom deliver. What about ‘Relationship Bankers’ – the ones who were heavy on profit and quiet about real risk in selling Lehman min-bonds – still to be trusted?

    It’s a trap that many parents fall into. Talking to their kids about the exciting places they’re going to go and the fun they are going to have. From pimples – “you’ll grow out of it” to exhortions to study – “you’ll be able to do whatever you like when you graduate with honours”.

    Leaders are prone to over promise – it’s considered perhaps an embellishment, a slight exaggeration or, the catch-all, marketing.

    4. Walking the talk
    Doing what you say you will do is probably the most critical component of trust. If any of the three points above are in doubt, there is little chance that you will be able to walk the talk.

    How many times have you been to a networking event that ends in warm handshakes and empty commitments? When you say that you will introduce a friend to a contact, do it. If you say that you’ll pass on their contact information, do that. If you say that you’ll turn their business around and they will make 2 grand a month with just 4 hours work a week… Diligent follow-through sets you apart from the crowd and communicates trust.

    Your trust bankroll is being spent every-time you:

  • speak falsehoods (however small)
  • hide bad news (even the potential of the downside)
  • over-promise or
  • under deliver
  • How to rebuild trust

    Even the greatest leaders can suffer a loss of trust. This may be the result of error in judgment or a mistake. Or circumstances may conspire against the leader (a favourite of politicians and ex-Northern Rock senior management).

    Networkers are also prone to losing trust – perhaps the result of adverse market conditions or the failure of a supplier or partner. A respected and trusted networker can lose years of building trusted relationships through introducing a connection who failed to deliver on their promise. So how do we rebuild damaged trust?

    Acknowledge the mistakes
    When decisions turn out unexpectedly, the leader owes his followers an explanation. Inflated egos can make a leader quick to assign blame or make excuses, but a mistake unacknowledged is compounded.

    A straightforward acknowledgment of the mistake should be the front end and made voluntarily. One forced (because I got caught) does nothing to re-establish trust. “I forgot to call” may not be something a networker likes to admit, but it’s more honest than making up a convoluted story of deceit that tries to shift responsibility elsewhere.

    Apologise
    Admitting that you are fallible, that what you did was wrong, that you made a mistake is an important step to accepting responsibility. Knowing that you made an error is one thing, admitting it to others, though painful, allows you (and often them helping you) to put the incident behind you and take action to avoid making the same mistake in the future.

    Make amends
    Find a way to make amends with people you have wronged. If you have harmed, make restitution. People often forget that undelivered promises frequently have cost the other party. If, for example, you agree to meet someone at 2pm, and turn up at 2.30 – you’ve just cost someone 30 minutes. Next time who will turn up and when?

    You may not be required to do so, and it may be that circumstances conspired against you, and it may be that it really truly wasn’t your fault – but accepting ownership and taking responsibility goes a long way to thickening that bankroll of trust.

    Trust is the bedrock of the bond between leader and follower, the bond that makes a network work. As a leader and as a networker, trust will make or break your success in any industry or circumstance.