12 WAYS FOR LEADERS TO BUILD A SOLID FOUNDATION OF TRUST WITH EMPLOYEES

by Dan McCarthy

A solid foundation of trust is critical to any healthy and productive relationship. Trust is the biggest and most important building block of teams, marriages, friendships, and the relationship between a leader and his/her employees.

Without trust, communication, coaching, engagement, and the ability to manage change all break down, productivity suffers, and your most valued employees become flight risks.

One of the toughest messages I’ve had to deliver as an executive coach is to present data to a leader that their employees don’t trust them. Most leaders like to see themselves as basically trustworthy. To find out that their employees don’t trust them or question their integrity can be devastating and difficult to accept.

If you’ve gotten this feedback, or suspect people do not trust you, here are 12 things you can do to begin to re-build a foundation of trust:

1. Don’t over commit and do keep your promises. Being seen as unreliable is a form of mistrust. Don’t promise or commit to something unless you know you can honor the commitment. Then, follow through. Do what you say you’re going to do.
2. Keep confidences. Being seen as someone who can't keep a secret is another cause of mistrust. However, as a manager, don’t promise confidentiality if you aren’t sure if you can or should keep the information from others (i.e., performance, legal, ethical issues).
3. Admit your mistakes. Admitting your mistakes (or weaknesses) shows vulnerability, humility, and accountability. Don’t look for someone else to blame. Learn from your mistake, don’t dwell on it, and move on.
4. Get feedback. While it’s a tough pill to swallow, awareness that your employees don’t trust you is the first step to recovery.  A lack of trust can mean many things, and getting specific feedback is a way to diagnose the problem and take the right corrective actions.
5. Share credit and acknowledge the contributions of others. Be an advocate for other’s ideas, especially your peers. Being seen as “stealing” one of your employee’s innovative ideas is a trust deal-breaker!
6. Don’t do anything “newsworthy”. That is, don’t do anything that you would not feel comfortable reading about in the newspaper the next day. Your character as a leader is defined by the decisions you make while no one is watching.
7. Don’t gossip. Don’t talk about others behind their backs, unless it’s something positive. If you do, others will assume you’re doing the same to them. And if you say something positive, you can assume it will get back to them.
8. Share information. Leaders often keep people the dark about where they are going or what they are planning. In the absence of good information, people draw their own conclusions. Guesswork is a shaky foundation of trust. Give people consistent updates, status reports, and explain the reasons for your decisions.
9. Get to know people, develop relationships. If you take the time to get to know others and share information about yourself, people will be less likely to question your motives and will give you the benefits of the doubt.
10. Make sure your message is consistent. Leadership starts with a clear and consistent vision, goals, and values. Don’t say different things to different audiences, in an attempt to please everyone. And if you change your mind about something, explain why your opinion has changed.
11. Be a straight-shooter. When asked a question, give a complete, direct answer – no smoke and mirrors. If you don’t have the answer, don’t fake it.
12. Trust your employees. As a leader, it’s not your employee’s responsibility to “earn” your trust.  You assume your employees are trustworthy as treat them like you trust them. Your employees will be more willing to trust you if they know you trust them.

Fuente: About.com - Management & Leadership

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