Better Leadership through Trust

An effective leader must possess strong skills in several key areas, such as setting goals, organizational effectiveness, strategic thinking, and area expertise. Having such skills won’t get you far, however, unless the people you interact with are willing to listen to and follow you. And they won’t do that unless they trust you. Keep reading to learn how you can have better leadership through trust.

Trust is “assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something.” This “assured reliance” is the cornerstone of any successful relationship in the workplace (and outside the workplace, too!). Only if you as a people leader trust that your employees will do their jobs well can they actually achieve that success. And by that same token, only if your employees trust that you as their manager will lead them well can you actually do so.

Trust is a state that exists (or doesn’t) between two parties—in this case, you and your employees. By focusing on the three main areas that shape the relationship between you and them, you can create an environment in which trust will flourish.

Manage with Care

Without a sense of caring, there can be no sense of community. 

Your position in your organization doesn’t exist in a vacuum; rather, it is dependent on others. After all, you can’t call yourself a leader if no one is following you. Similarly, you can’t be a manager if you have no staff to manage.

Because how you interact with other people is an inherent part of your role, it’s vital that you treat them well. Following the Golden Rule is a good start, but simply treating others as you would like to be treated isn’t enough. You also need to treat them as they would like to be treated. 

To understand what your employees themselves want, you need to be skilled in communication, compassion, and empathy, all of which are important not just in the workplace but in life in general. Not everyone is naturally talented in those areas, though—and that’s okay, because as long as you’re willing to put in genuine effort to cultivate them, you can learn them. 

I’ve said it before on this blog and I’ll say it again now: “One of the best things you can do to increase your chances of achieving professional success is to work actively on your emotional intelligence.” Emotional intelligence, also known as EQ, shapes your ability to connect with, care about, and understand other people. The greater your EQ, the more able you are to build an employee-centric culture that makes people feel more appreciated, valued, and seen. (Take a look at my post “Getting Your EQ On: How to Develop Emotional Intelligence” to find ways to measure and improve your EQ.)

Trust increases not only when people feel understood but also when they feel valued. As a leader, you can express that value by recognizing their accomplishments, both privately (in your one-on-one interactions, such as feedback sessions, performance reviews, and coaching conversations) as well as publicly (in team-wide, department-wide, and organization-wide forums). If you’re going to ask your people to deliver great work, you need to acknowledge—and celebrate—them when they do. 

When your employees feel confident that you care (not just about their work, but about them as individuals too) and that you won’t overlook their efforts, they’ll be more engaged and productive. They’ll trust you to do right by them—and will be more willing and able to follow your lead.

Communicate Clearly and Effectively

Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing. 

Of course, none of this happens unless you and your employees are on the same page. If you can’t communicate your expectations clearly, how can you expect your people to fulfill them? And how can they trust that you are giving them the information, guidance, and support they need to succeed in their work?

Without fail, great leaders are also great communicators. I’ve written about communication before (for example, see “Communicating Up, Down and Across the Organization”), but when it comes to building trust with your employees, these are among the most critical communication practices:

• Be clear and concise when giving direction and conveying your expectations. When employees don’t have to deal with “I’m not sure what I’m supposed to be doing” uncertainty, they can move forward confidently.
• Give feedback willingly and frequently. Part of your job as a leader is to help your people reach their full potential. Help them improve their abilities but don’t forget to let them know when they’re doing something right, too. If you only point out the negative, you’re sabotaging your efforts at building trust! And remember, silence about good behavior does not build trust either (“my boss only sees the negative, clearly he has it in for me!”).
• Listen actively. Good communication is never a one-way interaction. To drive learning, growth, and connection, ask questions and pay close attention to what people tell you.
• Connect everyone’s role to the “bigger picture” and proactively share information. If you want people to trust you, they must feel that they are valued members of the same team you’re on (at the department and organizational level!).

Whether it’s an e-mail, a phone call, a video conference, or an in-person meeting, every interaction you have with someone is an opportunity to build trust with them. Your personal brand is always on display—and if you want your personal brand to include “trustworthy,” you must constantly examine how what you say and what you do (including even what impressions you convey in your dress, speech, and body language) can shape people’s willingness to trust you.

When you approach challenges in a positive manner and display confidence and empathy in equal doses, that sets the stage for trust-based problem solving and communication. For example, during my time at Oxygen I had a young man working for me who was not performing up to expectations. Rather than simply ding him on his performance review (or fire him), I wanted to understand the problem. I sat down with him and asked, “What’s going on here?”—and then I listened. He told me that he wasn’t interested in the work he was doing and that he wanted to take on a different role. If I gave him that position, he promised, he would do a fantastic job at it, because it involved work that he really cared about. 

I moved him over to that new role—where not only did he thrive, he totally kicked ass. That was a win–win–win: he got to do something that was important to him, I got an engaged and productive employee (and helped someone reach his potential), and the organization benefited from his incredible work.

This could not have happened without trust to ensure that we could communicate clearly about what he wanted and what my expectations were. He trusted that I would listen to him with an open mind and that I would try to figure out a solution that was good not just for the organization but for him, too. At the same time, I trusted that he would tell me how he really felt and that if I gave him the opportunity he asked for, he would do the best job he possibly could with it.

Act with Integrity

The high road is always respected. Honesty and integrity are always rewarded. 

If you want people to trust you, you must show them why they should trust you. In addition to treating them well and communicating clearly, as discussed above, you also need to present yourself as a trustworthy person. 

• Honor your commitments. When people know they can depend on you, they’ll come through for you, too.
• Admit when you’re wrong. You are human: you will make mistakes. Great leaders don’t deny their mistakes but own up to—and learn from—them.
• Accept feedback willingly. Just because you’re in a leadership role doesn’t mean you’re done learning. Don’t rest on your laurels. There’s always room for improvement!
• Show appreciation and give credit where it’s due. Remember, you could never do what you do without the work of others. When others do good work, be public with your gratitude (especially if that work is tied to your own success).

Acting with integrity means being someone who is honest with others (and themselves) and who is open-minded. Over the course of your career, you’ve probably had a coworker or two (and maybe a manager or boss, too) who wasn’t reliable, always denied their errors, didn’t handle criticism well, and hogged the spotlight as much as possible. You didn’t trust them, did you? Don’t be that person.

Final Thoughts

When I feel that people trust me, I’m prepared to do everything. 

It’s not hard to build trust as long as you are diligent about it and sincere in your efforts. Anyone who has empathy and genuinely cares about other people can create trust-based relationships with them. 

Keep in mind that this is a process. Trust doesn’t just happen. It’s established over time through conscious effort. It must be constantly rebuilt and re-earned—and it can be destroyed in an instant. 

Building trust is hard. But it is always worth the effort. Don’t underestimate its value. And once you have it, don’t ever take it for granted.

Your Turn!

Do you have other suggestions for how to build trust with your employees? Do you have any stories about times when trust was critical to an aspect of your job? Please share them in the comments below!