BUILDING TRUST A LEADER'S GUIDE INTENT CONSULTING PRESENTS
OMAR L. HARRIS
Building Trust: A Leader's Guide
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Trust and Influence The 3 C's The Trust Formula Enhancing Credibility Ensuring Reliability Improving Relationships Beware the Ego 5 Key Virtues Trust Builders and Trust Breakers
Trust and Influence
Most leader's desire greater influence but don't realize that the key to increasing this crucial ability lies in building trust. The simple fact is that there is a linear relationship between trust and influence - meaning the more trusted we are, the more influence we possess - regardless of position or title. If you take nothing else away from this ebook, remember this - to augment influence focus on building multi-directional trust.
When individuals trust each other, they are more likely to share information, collaborate, and take risks together. In contrast, when trust is lacking, people are less likely to be open and vulnerable with one another, and they may be less willing to take direction or be influenced by others. Moreover, trust also enhances the credibility and reputation of a person. When people trust an individual, they are more likely to see them as competent, reliable, and honest.
This perception of credibility and trustworthiness can increase a person's influence and allow them to effectively persuade and influence others. Trust allows individuals to develop strong relationships, communicate effectively, and effectively persuade and influence others.
The 3 C's
In their landmark book, Trust and Betrayal in the Workplace , Dennis and Michelle Reina center most organizational trust issues on the 3 C's: Character, Communication, and Capability. Trust of Character is the foundation of any relationship, and is rooted in the shared commitment to serve one another's interests. This form of trust is cultivated through effective management of expectations, setting clear boundaries, delegating responsibilities appropriately,
honoring agreements, and demonstrating consistent behavior. Trust of Character can be measured by how much others rely and depend upon us.
Trust of Communication is established through the act of
sharing information, being truthful, admitting to mistakes, upholding confidentiality, exchanging feedback, and communicating with positive intentions. Building this dimension of
trust establishes us as a truth speaker and encourages those around us to do the same.
Trust of Capability is closely linked to our individual experience. By acknowledging other's expertise, showing gratitude for their accomplishments, involving them in decision-making, and promoting learning, we can develop this trust. When we reach the pinnacle of trust in someone's capability, we show others that we are competent, seek guidance when needed, and recognize and encourage the potential contributions of others to our organization.
The 3 C's of trust work together in a mutually reinforcing and interdependent manner. As we focus on improving one aspect of trust, we observe that the other two aspects also develop naturally. Moreover, when our colleagues in the organization notice and adopt our behavior towards managing expectations, communicating, and delegating, we receive positive feedback. Trust generates trust, creating a virtuous cycle of reinforcing behaviors.
The Trust Formula
Did you know there is a mathematical equation for trust building?
It is expressed as follows:
Credibility X Reliability X Closeness
Self-orientation
Basically, the more credibility we possess in our given roles as leaders is enhanced by our reliability (doing what we say we will do) times our degree of professional relationships with others. This trust can be undermined or enhanced by our degree of self-orientation.
Self-orientation is about our ego needs. The more we make work about us and our needs, the less others will trust us. Conversely, the more we make our work about serving and supporting others, the more our trust building efforts are enhanced. Examples of this are offering to help someone before asking them for something (reciprocation) or doing something unexpected for someone without them asking at all. These offerings demonstrate your orientation and bond others to you. This is exceptionally powerful for those of us in leadership roles.
Enhancing Credibility
To enhance our credibility, we need to focus on five essential elements: competence, consistency, authenticity, respectfulness, and accountability. Competence refers to our ability to demonstrate knowledge and expertise in our field and perform our duties effectively. Consistency involves acting and behaving in a manner that aligns with our values and principles over time, thereby building trust in others.
Authenticity is being true to ourselves and not putting on a façade. It means showing our true selves to others and building genuine connections based on mutual understanding. Respectfulness entails treating others with dignity and appreciation, regardless of their background or status. This means that we listen to others' opinions, seek to understand their perspectives, and engage in constructive dialogue. Accountability refers to taking responsibility for our actions and being accountable for the consequences of our decisions.
consequences of our decisions. It means that we keep our promises, admit when we make mistakes, and take corrective action to rectify them. By focusing on these five elements, we can enhance our credibility and build trust with others. We establish ourselves as reliable and trustworthy individuals, which helps us develop strong relationships with our colleagues, superiors, and clients.
Ensuring Reliability
To ensure a perception of our reliability, we need to focus on four essential aspects: managing commitments, communicating proactively, finishing what we start, and respecting time (ours and others). Managing commitments involves being intentional about the promises we make and ensuring that we can fulfill them. This means that we don't over-commit ourselves or make promises we can't keep. It also means that we prioritize commitments and follow through on them.
Communicating proactively involves being transparent and keeping others informed about our progress towards fulfilling commitments. We communicate any changes or delays promptly, ensuring that others are not surprised or caught off guard. Finishing what we start means that we don't leave tasks unfinished or abandon projects halfway. We persevere through challenges, overcome obstacles, and complete tasks to the best of our ability.
Respecting time means valuing our own time and that of others.
Improving Relationships
To effectively build strong relationships, you need to find common ground with the other person, keep things simple, make interactions enjoyable, be inspirational, and have integrity. Firstly, finding common ground is important because it helps establish a sense of shared understanding between two individuals. This involves looking for shared interests, values, or experiences that can be used to connect with the other person on a deeper level.
By finding common ground, you can establish a foundation for building a strong relationship. Secondly, keeping things simple is crucial because it helps avoid misunderstandings and confusion. Clear communication and a straightforward approach to interactions can help build trust and understanding between two individuals. By keeping things simple, you can minimize the potential for misunderstandings and miscommunications, which can lead to stronger relationships over time.
Thirdly, making interactions enjoyable can help establish positive feelings between two individuals. This can involve finding ways to inject humor, laughter, or positive emotions into your interactions with the other person. When people enjoy each other's company, they are more likely to want to spend time together and build a strong relationship. Fourthly, being inspirational involves motivating and encouraging the other person to be their best self. This can involve sharing positive experiences or stories, providing guidance and support, or setting a positive example for the other person to
to follow. By inspiring others, you can help them reach their full potential and build a stronger relationship in the process. Finally, having integrity means being honest, trustworthy, and ethical in your interactions with others. This involves being accountable for your actions, treating others with respect and fairness, and being transparent and open in your communications. By having integrity, you can establish trust with the other person and build a strong foundation for a long-lasting relationship.
Beware the Ego Ego is the sense of self-importance, self-esteem, and self-image that individuals have. When ego becomes inflated, individuals tend to put their own needs and desires above those of others, which can cause them to act in ways that damage trust. Individuals with inflated egos may have difficulty admitting their mistakes or weaknesses. This can lead to a lack of accountability, and others may perceive them as untrustworthy or unreliable. When people don't take responsibility for their actions, it erodes trust because others don't know if they can rely on them.
Ego may lead us to be more concerned with maintaining our image than being honest. We may try to hide our mistakes or flaws, which can cause others to doubt our authenticity. When people feel like they're being deceived, it can be hard to trust. Ego makes it hard to see other people's perspectives. We may believe that our way is the only right way, and may dismiss or ignore others' opinions or ideas. This can make others feel undervalued or disrespected, which can erode trust. Ego can lead us to prioritize our own interests over the interests of others.
We may be more concerned with getting what we want than with building mutually beneficial relationships. When people feel like they're being used or taken advantage of, it can be hard to trust. To build and maintain trust, it's important to put others first, be honest and transparent, value others' perspectives, and prioritize building strong relationships over personal gain. This is nearly impossible with ego in the way.
5 Key Virtues
There are 4 crucial questions that today's leaders need to begin asking themselves:
1.
To what degree does my team trust me as their leader? Why or why not? How will I know if they do or don't? What more can I do to build trust with my teams?
2. 3.
4.
Trust is an intrinsic catalyst behind breakout performance. Basically, trust is the key how behind driving performance - because to drive performance, a team must engage in productive conflict, commit to shared objectives,
hold each other accountability, and focus on achievement of results.
Teams that do not trust each other usually do not perform well because everyone is trying to hide imperfections and flaws from one another. In a high performance team, however, everyone knows the other's strengths and weaknesses. Vulnerability and openness become the calling cards of these types of teams because it paves the way for the types of interactions that drive results. And it is up to today's leaders to set the table for this type of environment. To do so they must consistently exhibit 5 attributes that engender trust:
Humanity: Trust building leaders truly see the individuals in their organizations as people first - not titles, functions, or headcounts. They connect with each person on a human level, acknowledging that there is a world beyond the workplace that has a major impact on how people perform. They know the fastest way to breakthrough performance is to invest in each individual's natural talents and strengths and leverage that for the benefit of the entire organization.
Authenticity: The trust building leader keeps it real - meaning they are transparent about their failings as much as their successes. What you see is what you get with this type of leader - without hidden agendas or politics. Vulnerability: Trust building leaders aren't afraid to demonstrate their imperfections and even need for help in certain situations. They don't desire to have all of the answers and are very comfortable in their own skin thus transmitting this into their organizations. They understand that showing a more well-rounded version of themselves is key to engender a a culture of dealing with facts as they are with no apologies.
Openness: Trust building leaders are receptive to new ideas and approaches to problem solving. They love creativity, abhor the status quo, and are great at helping their team's look at problems from different angles without attacking each other. Collaboration is the tool they leverage to make powerful connections between people. Just because they inspire openness however, does not mean they do not take decisive action - in fact their style of participative decision making almost guarantees better outcomes than had they gone it alone.
Transparency: Trust building leaders are above all, honest. They call it like they see it and value fairness and equity. They hate double-standards and work hard to level the playing field both inside and outside their organizations. They communicate very effectively because they eradicate unnecessary double talk and political correctness and get to the heart of matters. Because of this key virtue, when they speak, people listen, believe, and act. If these elements are lacking or missing, the answer is to make the necessary adaptations in ourselves.
Trust Builders and Trust Breakers Activity Objective: Compare and contrast your top trust builders and trust breakers. Compare and contrast your top 2-3 trust builders and trust breakers. Ask your colleague to read the list first and pick their top 3 trust builders and top 3 trust breakers. Advance and show them your top 3 trust builders and top 3 trust breakers. Identify areas where your colleague has already built trust with you.
Trust Builders and Trust Breakers Activity
Discuss the need to provide immediate feedback if a trust breaker occurs on either side.
Trust Builders
Trust Breakers
About the Author
Omar L. Harris is a Former General Manager of GSK and Allergan with more than 20 years of experience as a global pharmaceutical executive. He is the Founder and managing partner at Intent Consulting, a firm dedicated to improving
employee experience and organizational performance. Check out his books on Amazon.com.
About Intent Consulting
Founded in July 2020 by 20+ year global pharmaceutical executive and previous GM with experience at Pfizer, Schering-Plough, Merck, GSK, and Allergan in the US, Middle East, Asia, and Latin America Based in Charlotte, NC Experience across the technology, financial services, startup, higher ed, and healthcare segments
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