FIRST STEPS AS A FIRST-TIME LEADER - ESTABLISHING TRUST AND CONFIDENCE

In my most recent post, I made suggestions as to how best to go about establishing yourself as a new leader. Leading is, after all, mostly about building relationships. Without having an authentic relationship with those whom you lead – or, in other words, without followers – you are a leader only in name, as fragile and vulnerable as your title. 

People willingly follow someone they feel they know, but even more important is that they are following someone who knows them. As they come to know you better, they may begin to cede you the beginnings of their trust. For leading is not just about building relationships; it is fundamentally about building trusting relationships.

Nazan Artun is a specialist leadership coach assisting emerging leaders both to grow and develop in their leadership competencies and capabilities, and also to improve their performance. Trust is the foundation of any successful personal or professional relationship, she affirms, and requires effort and time. Without trust, she continues, work relationships are destined to fail, in 9 ways to build trust as a first-time leader - and why it is so important, in Fastcompany, 22 July 2023).

My last posting reflected on ways first-time leaders become distracted from their main task of trust-building within and with their team. Artun points out that the pressure of getting quick results and thus proving themselves to their superiors may cause them to overlook the vital  importance of building trust within their team, or they may struggle with knowing where to start while they juggle many diverse administrative responsibilities because now they have management of their people added to their daily to-do list.

Knowing that building a healthy team culture is the first step to getting business results is vital, Artun counsels, but by the time some beginning leaders realise the importance of establishing trust between themselves and those they lead, it might be too late. She shares that she experienced this when she was appointed to her first leadership role at a young age, and offers these strategies to first-time leaders can use to assist them in building trust with their new teams.

SELF-AWARENESS AND SELF-CONFIDENCE PROVIDE YOUR FOUNDATION

Believing in yourself is critical to trusting others, Artun explains, and doubting yourself can lead to your team's mistrust of your intentions and decisions. Self-doubt may get triggered if anyone from your team challenges your perspective or maybe even provides constructive feedback, Artun continues. Questions linger, she suggests, such as: “Do they respect my decisions as their leader? Do I need more authority? Can I trust their honesty?”

Overcoming these destructive thoughts requires inner work, she avers, starting with asking yourself, “What does it mean for me to trust others and be trusted by others?”  Start with seeing good in others and giving chances, she advises, because scepticism and micromanaging won’t help any party in the long run.

SHARE YOUR GOOD INTENTIONS AND LONG-TERM VISION

Building trust requires you to make yourself vulnerable at critical points. Early on as you build your relationship with your team, you need to outline your intentions as a leader and to share your values with them. In my recent post I described this as explaining your WHY. Simon Sinek asserts that sharing your WHY with your team is the beginning of their successful adoption and implementation of the inevitable changes that you will seek to bring about with your team. Emphasise your commitment to building a positive work environment and supporting your team professionally. Artun calls this being transparent about your goals and vision for the team, so they understand the rationale – the WHY -  behind your actions. Honesty and transparency are the building blocks to trust, Artun affirms, but the challenge might be projecting them in your communications.

As a beginning leader, you gain trust by being open and frank about what is happening within the organisation; by being honest about your mistakes, and by being ready to take responsibility. Hiding facts or keeping secrets from your team members will lead to doubt and uncertainty, Artun cautions.

SPEAK THROUGH YOUR ACTIONS, NOT JUST WORDS

In other words, Walk your Talk!  Artun draws your attention to the 7-38-55 rule of effective communication, especially concerning the communication of your emotions. Psychology professor Albert Mehrabian observed that only 7% of what we want to say is communicated through the spoken word; 38% through our tone of voice, and a whopping 55% through our body language.

Body language and facial expressions, especially in today’s virtual world, have become more important than ever, Artun explains. Think about all those endless Zoom meetings during the pandemic! All you had to go on in picking up people’s emotions was that tiny square face on the screen. That should tell you how consciously you need to communicate both verbally and nonverbally. If your words are not congruent with the tone of your voice and your posture and gestures, your message is not going to be clearly conveyed and it may even be perceived and interpreted entirely wrongly. This is more than setting an example with your actions and expectations; this is about being holistically authentic with what you mean in your interactions, Artun reminds you.

RESIST EMBRACING FAVOURITISM

Artun likens the practising of favouritism at work to ‘middle child syndrome’, where you try to get your leader’s attention, but you never can because, for some reason, they already have their golden boys and girls picked. As a new leader, of course you might tend to create a comfort zone for yourself and lean on team members you might know or whom you feel most comfortable working with, but playing favourites by cosseting some members of your team and not others may damage the embryonic team culture you are striving to create, as well as adversely affect the team’s performance. If your team loses their trust in your fairness, they’ll lose their motivation, which may lead to deliberate underperformance by the competent, Artun bluntly states.

Approaching this from a different angle, she suggests, the people we feel most uncomfortable with sometimes teach us the most significant lessons and provide eye-opening perspectives in life. By being fair, you’d strengthen your team’s trust in you and gain the opportunity of growing as a leader. Remember, she urges, growth does not feel comfortable all the time.

PRIORITISE YOUR TEAM’S NEEDS DURING DIFFICULT TIMES

This is an important one. Team members look to their new leader to reassure them that you have got their backs. You probably know that as a mid-level leader in a school, you sometimes become the buffer between your team and staff from other departments, as well between your team and those at higher levels of leadership in the organisation. There will be performance expectations or conflicts between your team members and others, Artun indicates. Always remember your priority should be your team’s needs, and before making any decisions, especially during times of conflict with others, listen to their side of the story and concerns and try to address them promptly, she adds. Make sure your team members  know you have their backs!

A good leader shows trust in their team and has the courage and tenacity to stand up for them when necessary. Be willing to step up when difficult conversations need to happen and don’t sweep problems under the rug, Artun suggests. Know that these tough issues don’t really go away, and may show up at unexpected times. 

USE FAILURES AS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR NEW LEARNING

Failures are an indispensable component of the human learning process. We frequently learn the most we ever learn from our failures. Artun says don’t ignore failures; on the contrary, create opportunities to speak about them as case studies or encounters from which lessons may be learned. When team members face difficult situations and struggle in their roles, falling into the blaming game or being reactive are the least appropriate responses, and will shake their trust in you and undermine their sense of psychological safety at work. Instead, try to understand the root cause of it with focused questions and active listening.

After grasping the situation, and dealing with their own emotional reactions to their failure, Artun recommends you try coaching them with encouraging conversations while at the same time keeping them accountable for the rectification of whatever has gone wrong. If they struggle with understanding the recommended next steps, brainstorm with them about the solutions and provide them with resources and opportunities to learn and develop, she encourages. Remember too, trust works both ways so show them that you also trust their talents and capabilities. Draw their alternative approaches or innovative solutions from them.

BE AUTHENTIC AND HUMAN-CENTERED

The authenticity paradox mostly shows itself in new leaders because too much sharing can be perceived as a sign of weakness or lack of authority. On the other hand, a lack of authenticity will make your team struggle to trust you, Artun explains. In an ideal world, a good leader should be approachable, but authenticity is key, she advises. She goes on, It is a matter of how much you feel comfortable being yourself in the context of the demographics and dynamics of your team.

Ultimately, showing that you are authentic, able to be a real person who has and expresses emotions and accepts challenges, but without shaking their trust in your capabilities, will help to establish solid trust. The hope is everyone can feel comfortable approaching you, making the workplace a normal, natural human environment rather than a place where people pretend or hide.

BE AWARE OF THE IMPACT OF YOUR CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK

Many new leaders struggle with providing constructive and positive feedback for different reasons, Artun observes. Firstly, initiating a conversation tagged as a “difficult experience” is daunting; thus, discussions on things to improve and change are mostly avoided until a fire is extinguished. However, emerging leaders can learn not to frame this necessity of sound management and god leadership as a necessarily negative experience.

Genuine well-intended feedback helps us to become more self-aware and contribute to our growth. The key is ensuring that you don’t come out as criticising or blaming but rather, that you are aiming to demonstrate your best intentions for the whole team. Being specific and not just focusing on what and why, but also pondering upon how to do better and improve, will demonstrate that you genuinely care about their individual growth and development.

RECOGNISE, MOTIVATE, TRUST, AND CELEBRATE

Receiving recognition is one of the most powerful external motivators of humans, according to Artun, and if you omit to recognise and praise outstanding performance, there might be a question about your intentions and vision as a first-time leader. It may even create confusion for people not knowing what success actually looks like in your team.

Celebrations of work well done and goals achieved will help boost team morale and show your team members that you appreciate their hard work and increase their engagement and sense of belonging to the organisation. By promoting a culture of celebration that is equitable, transparent, and focused on collective success, your team will come to trust that their efforts and contributions matter, whether big or small, and that you’re their strongest supporter.

Implementing these strategies will strengthen your team’s morale and lay strong foundations for a trusting relationship, both with you and among them all.

Endnote: For a fuller and more authoritative analysis of the importance of trust and how to build it effectively within your team, organisation or institution, read leading Queensland School Principal Dr Paul Browning’s Principled (QUP).