Leadership Tip. TRUST

Leadership Tip: Trust

Leaders tend to fall into two camps when it comes to trust. They either trust first, believing that everyone comes to work to do their best work or they believe trust must be earned and proven.

John, a successful Operations Director, sat in the second camp. He noticed when people were in the café chatting during “working” hours. When someone didn’t ask questions and then made mistakes, he made judgements about their capability. If someone didn’t complete the work in the way he wanted it done, he questioned their ability to do the job. He didn’t trust first and needed his people to prove their worth and value first.

Mark, an MD led with trust. He delegated freely and encouraged others to speak up and be involved in decisions. Soon his people built confidence and made decisions freely. He had been burned a couple of times, but rather than believe all people would let him down, he chose to reflect on what he could have done differently. His team felt safe and valued around him and got being him.

Trust means people feel safe. When we feel safe we put aside judgement, fear, second guessing, gossiping and game playing. We can simply take down the mask and use our energy on doing our best work and thinking.

It starts at the top – when you lead with trust, trust follows.