THIS spring, the Melbourne Cup will no doubt again be the race that stops a nation.
THIS spring, the Melbourne Cup will no doubt again be the race that stops a nation. Just as this focal race brings an entire country to a grinding halt, the removal of trust from human interaction can have profound consequences.
Removing trust from a relationship can bring down governments, destroy businesses, end the greatest relationships and even stall the most thriving economy. A lack of trust has surfaced as the issue that may stop a nation from emerging from the downturn.
Trust is the essence of leadership, yet alarmingly there are many Australian leaders failing to build trust with those around them. Results from an Insync Survey of more than 14,000 Australian employees demonstrated that trust in leadership tends to decline steadily over time. The propensity for Australian bosses to role model positively desired behaviours is at a similar state of flux. The missing piece in the leadership puzzle may lie in the fact that being trustworthy as a person does not necessarily equate to leadership success in building trust.
At its core, trust is about foundations and actions. When we talk about foundations, we are talking about credibility, reputation and personal brand. In The Speed of Trust, Stephen Covey describes the four elements to credibility: integrity, intent, capability and results. Foundations are what you bring to your relationships that enable you to tolerate mistakes and setbacks without reducing trust. Actions are what you do to build trust. It's not about what you say, it's about what you do. This is how you build your leadership brand and become known by your values and positioning.
There are three vital actions for building trust in your team or organisation.
a) Achieve results - performing, fulfilling obligations and commitments to others, the company and the brand. Successful companies and teams focus on clearly establishing demanding goals, communicating expectations for higher performance, and implementing systems that provide fair and equitable consequences for results.
b) Act with integrity - consistency in word and deed. Gaps between what your customer and employees anticipate and what's delivered to them give the perception of inconsistency, and this results in mistrust. Organisationally, integrity means the actions of your organisation, its leaders, and people within it are guided by (and are consistent with) stated brand values, principles, and specific practices. Such coherent approaches provide a degree of brand predictability, based on principles that lead to building greater brand trust. Get active and create brand trust by: clearly articulating your company's purpose; identifying, defining and ensuring behavioural consistency with the company's core brand values; communicating an inspiring (yet realistic) vision for your company's future; ensuring leaders understand and act consistently with these factors above; and interpreting conditions as they are, not as you would have them to be, and encourage open honest sharing of information related to current status and probable future of your business and individual performance.
c) Demonstrate concern. People care and trust for those demonstrating genuine care and trust for them. This same respect is expected also in respect to interests of family, co-workers, and the company. Concern (or lack of it) from leaders impacts greatly upon the individual, and the larger team as a whole.
It is the leader's responsibility to initiate a trusting relationship. Building honesty, transparency, care and commitment in the workplace is the key to enhancing greater employee productivity and engagement.
From another angle, there are some who claim that lessons in great leadership can be learned from good horsemanship. The building of trust between humans and unridden foals has been touted by UK author, Tudor Rickards, as having much to offer as a model for leadership. In your pursuit as leaders to get your 'horses' across the line, being a 'jockey' who cracks the whip is not as likely to win the race and create a sustainable environment of champions.
At the end of the day, the solution is not about forcing performance but about enabling performance. Glenn Boss has said that all he did was get Makybe Diva into a position where she had a chance of winning. He then trusted her to get the job done, which she did.
No matter which way you slice it, building and sustaining your trusted leadership brand is about keeping the promises you make. A high level of trust is critical to leadership success and to creating an environment for people to do their best, win customer loyalty and get your nose ahead of the competition.
