Leadership Traits – Being Trusted

One of the most important leadership traits anyone in a leadership position would want to be known for is trust!

Every other thing you do will hinge on whether your staff has trust in what you are doing and saying.

Let's think about trust in the truest form.

A new born baby blindly will trust their parent. Why because they provide for all their needs. In the babies case it is food, shelter, safety, diaper changes, etc. As the baby grows older this trust could either be reinforced or eroded depending on the actions of the parent.

If the child was abused by their original parents and is placed into the custody of the state, the new care takers will face the challenge of helping the child to begin to trust again.

The workplace is not all that different.

Good leadership skills require that you provide for the needs of your staff and insure that you always communicate the truth to them. When I talk about communicating with your staff make sure it is not always just about business. Be a human being and talk about real life events and things that are going on whether in your life or theirs.

Sounds simple enough! Then why does it seem so hard in real time situations.

Think about the needs of your staff. What are they really?

Your list may start off with the obvious. Things like computer, paper, pens, desk, chair, and so on.

But what are their real needs, since in most cases we could get a robot to provide those things listed above.

I am speaking more about things like recognition, compassion, time with their families, time to listen to their complaints (which are a loud and clear list of needs), help with problems, and on and on.

You see good leadership skills demand that you build trust.

Trust is built in only one way!

A clear investment of your time to figure out all their needs and then filling those needs as it relates to their professional life.

So if you want your staff to trust you, stop and really listen when they come into your office and tell you about a personal situation that maybe, just maybe, you can do something to help out with.

As an example.

They come into your office and inform you that their Dad has just been diagnosed with cancer. They tell you that their Dad lives close by and needs to receive chemotherapy three times per week.

Of course their need most likely is that they would like to be able to take their Dad to those treatments. In addition, depending on the stage the cancer may be in they most likely want to spend as much time with them as possible.

This is a time to help them figure out a way to make all this possible, if you can. Just trying to help them helps to build trust. Make sure your help is sincere.

Doing this separates the manager that will be trusted going forwarded and the manager that is in it just for their self. No matter what direction you take the results will be seen by everyone!

Trust must be earned!

Just as the baby that is abused and no longer trusts the parent or any adult, the employee that is abused by a previous leader will take time to reestablish trust in new leadership.

The result of a lack of trust by your staff will play out in many ways such as attendance, work related accidents, lack of productivity, lack of team work, and so on.

Changing this over night with a quick fix is not going to happen. Trust takes time and effort to establish and sustain.

Again, it starts with providing for their needs and speaking the truth. One untruth takes a lot of actual truths to erase so choose your words carefully. Think before you speak!

Thank you!

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Developing Trust the Old Fashion Way

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