I know many people talk about trust, what does trust mean, how important it is to “earn” trust, and  that we want to be a “trusted” partner to our customers etc, etc, etc… But what does it really mean?

Yesterday, someone whom I have worked with off and on for a long time came into my office and thanked me for my “trust” in her. That trust gave her courage… that trust gave her an added sense of responsibility ( to not let me down) and energy because I believed in her and her capabilities. She said that the trust I naturally assumed in her provided her with a relationship model she has since shared with others with great success.  With trust came higher job satisfaction, higher productivity and quality of output. With trust, came pride.

I reflected on what she said. She also said that her prior managers did not share information, did not share context for the business so she felt less trust and felt she had half of the equation to her “problems” so her answers may somehow turn out wrong.  Unfortunately, this is not unusal.  Often, too many leaders lead with dis-trust. They design processes and lead looking  for the flaw, for the potential bad behaviors.
Here is what I believe…

  • I believe you have to trust first and be taught NOT to trust ( some one lets you down).  Lead with the positive – don’t set up processes,  have conversations assuming people will do the wrong thing.
  • I believe you can’t let your team fail. My job is to give them to the tools and trust them with the necessary information to be wildly successful.
  • I believe we need to provide our teams with constuctive feedback / coaching along their journey so we all get better, trusting that they will seek to improve.
  • I believe you trust your team enough to share your own mistakes and your learnings – so everyone gets stronger.
  • I believe you have to be yourself – treat others as you wish to be treated. To trust. When did you NOT want to know what was going on that could affect the quality of your decisions? Do you not like receiveing praise and constructive guidance?

Trust….
What do you believe?