subject: Leadership Strategy Tips To Build Trust [print this page] The best leadership expert would put building trust as the top leadership qualities.
Just imagine a workplace that relies on fraud, deceit and regular scams as a way of doing business. Its niche is carved out of false promises and open lies. Thankfully, most organizations like this only enjoy a very brief existence. Contrast the very corrupt organization with one holding a spotless record and unblemished past, and it becomes logical that many organizations fit somewhere between these two extremes. Tenuous balances of trust and stress underlie all business activity.
Lack of trust will undermine any leadership strategy. If employees don't feel trusted, they will guard their words and be reluctant to offer input. The job becomes All Work & No Say as soon as a lack of trust steals the inspiration away.
Symphony of Trust
A leadership skill many don't talk about is trust. How much do you trust your staff and why does it matter? Trust affects the bottom line: the way you treat your employees is the way they will treat clients. If it's acceptable that an organization or leader doesn't have to keep promises, then you can almost guarantee employees won't be keeping promises to clients either.
"People do business with people they trust." You've heard this before. A client's trust in an organization starts with a leaders trust in its employees. As Leadership Expert and Motivational Keynote Speaker, Lance Secretan quips in Reclaiming Higher Ground, "Our society is suffering from truth decay." He holds that, especially in teams, telling the truth is essential to good business. "If the members of a symphony lie to each other, they will play awful music," he maintains. So it goes in any leadership team environment. Another compelling advantage for telling the truth is that it's efficient. Over a third of an organization's budget may be devoted to administrative functions such as controls, reports and procedures. Many controls exist because leadership doesn't trust employees. What if we could nix some of these controls and have our leadership strategy to be trust each other to do our best? It would be much less expensive and much more efficient.
EXPLODING THE TRUST MYTH:"WE TRUST EACH OTHER"
Many organizations think that trust isn't a concern. On the surface everything is fine, but on closer inspection one might discover that employees are seeking to satisfy only their basic immediate needs. Their inspiration and passion is lost in the details of the job. Over time, working in such an atmosphere precipitates lethargy for some, and for others, illness. Workplace wellness declines.
Advantages to an Open Trusting Workplace Leadership Strategy:
* Employees are more willing to contribute their ideas.
* Saves resources (time and money).
* Fuels creativity, innovation and productivity.
* Encourages controlled risk taking.
* "Forbidden topics" create fear and take up a lot of personal energy that can be freed up and used for more productive work.
* Employees will be more eager to get involved knowing they are trusted. More involved = more motivated.
* These leadership skills Promotes richer relationships among staff.
As a leadership expert and motivational keynote speaker i have worked with some very ethical and straight up people. I have also witnessed the opposite. It is tough to beleive in and follow someone who you don't trust.
