Can you be trusted? Is this limiting your effectiveness as a leader?

I feel today that a number of things I have discussed here and with others in the past are coming together. The latest trigger was two minute webcast from John Kotter, the well-known expert on change, entitled “Leveraging Trust to Achieve Buy-in”. There are some very strong messages in there and I commend the investment of two minutes.
 

For the record, the other threads were:-

• when something has come up three times it is something that warrants your attention and action,
• there is something really special about being in a high performing team and I have been lucky enough to be a member of more than one. The spirit of trust as opposed to distrust was one of the most obvious differences
• there is the trust formula that I have shared before
• some recent work I have been doing mentoring a developing executive.

In truth the significance and trail works backwards. It started with a discussion over lunch about why this executive was not getting the performance they expected from some key some key members of their team. We looked at whether they had a team or a group and what situational style might be required (as against the one they were employing). We also looked at the responsibility for performance, ie if the team member lacks either the aptitude or the training required for the required outcomes then responsibility rests with the manager to resolve. Included in this, is the question about whether they understand what “good” looks like and feels?

If, however, it is a question of attitude then it is the employee's issue and requires different behaviours from the management. This situational adjustment is not always easy for a manager, especially those who focus solely on their own framework of values and need or those see consistency as a virtue.  In truth these are not in conflict. One can be exceedingly consistent in the vision one sets for results and behaviours and the personal values one exhibits; this does not mean you cannot respond to different individuals in ways that are most appropriate and effective for the time and place.

We then moved onto the question of trust ie did the team members trust the manager? We used the trust formula that says that trust the result of

(credibility x reliability x intimacy) / (self interest)

The intimacy here talks about does the other person know you well enough – not that they know everything, but that they can connect and empathise with you. The powerful denominator of “self interest” relates to how they perceive your motivation ie in their  interest, yours or the more general good.

The Kotter webcast ties the question of trust into parallels with ones personal life. The comment that struck most was “if I trust you, when I listen to you, I am not looking for ulterior motives so I listen more carefully to what you say…….and if indeed you are saying something sensible I will buy it……if trust goes up, buy in goes up to.”

I have seen the positive impacts of this many times, but not as many as the times when a lack of trust impeded progress. After training and working with American Banks at the start of my career, I joined Flemings (since bought by Chase and then subsumed into JP Morgan). It struck me there that having grown from being a smaller family firm and still private heavily influenced by the family, the environment was one of trust. If you were hired and proved your ability in the first 12-24 months you entered into a “circle of trust” that opened opportunities and supported real progress. In terms of the formula one had proved credibility and reliability, achieved an appropriate intimacy and had aligned interests.

It would be wrong to suggest that the world has not changed, especially financial services. We now have a greater focus on risk management through checking and double checking; keeping evidence of anything and everything that might come under scrutiny. I would also suggest though I have no data to support it that an individual’s average time in post and time with employer has reduced. This makes the development of trust more difficult. By way of reference, at Flemings a high proportion of the company including the leadership teams had been with the company for at least 10 and often more than 20 years! This is not something that can be easily duplicated, but the key lessons can be taken and applied.

So put this all together, and top it with the positive feeling when someone has stated that they trust me with something they are developing( and have acted on that statement) and the pieces feel as if they are building.

This last item is my concluding thought/observation for this blog and it is the power of reciprocity. It is not rocket science to see that it is easier to be trusted when one trusts in return. Indeed initiating the spirit of trust will often elicit valuable responses and acceleratinge understanding, engagement and commitment.

To me trust is the key to delivering success in many aspects of life. In busines, the more common and mechanical leadership development tools can be viewed as mechanical first-aid to compensate for low levels of trust. I suggest that the nurturing of trust is where we, as leaders, should place our effort to improve.

Three closing questions to reflect upon:-

• Who should you trust more and what will you do to do that?
• How easy is it for others to trust you?
• When was the last time you demonstrably trusted a member of your team, as opposed to holding back or double checking?

Please share any thoughts or experiences.