Trust & Respect

It’s been a while – a long while – since I regularly updated this blog.  I’m going to try and pick up where I left off and start posting every couple of weeks again.  Today, I’d like to have a discussion on trust.

How important is trust?  In my lengthy tenure at my current company, I’ve had the opportunity to see how trust – or the lack of trust – effects staff and their ability to work.

A leader who trusts their team, and shows that trust by their actions, can generate strong feelings of loyalty and motivation.  A person is much more likely to take a risk if they believe that their leadership trusts them to make good decisions and understands that sometimes an idea doesn’t work out.  There’s no personal scrutiny or – worse – punishment for failure.  I’ve even seen environments where individuals are recognized for taking a chance, even though the initiative or project didn’t pan out.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t take much to destroy a trusted relationship.  Time and again I’ve seen leaders underestimate the people in their organization.  They don’t seem to realize that even the guy who’s at the bottom of the org chart can often read and understand a balance sheet.  So, for example, if you’re telling your team that there’s no money for bonus or salary adjustments, but the company as a whole is post and bragging about record profits, you should not be surprised if the level of trust and respect for leadership plummets.

As middle managers, we’re often faced with passing on communication exactly like that.  How do we pass on this type of news and still maintain some level of credibility and trust with our team?  I believe the best approach is to be as transparent as the company will allow.  Be as open and honest as you can, and never, ever, tell a lie.  Always be truthful, even if the truth is, “I don’t know,” or “I’m not able to talk about that right now.”  Often, you’ll be given ‘talking points’ and unless you’ve been specifically instructed to read them word-for-word, try your best to translate them into something that your team will understand.  Nothing will set off a cynical BS meter faster than obvious ‘corporate speak’ – you know what I mean, as I’m sure you’ve all been on the receiving end.