Seth Godin, the wise marketing guru whom I regularly quote, said, “the most important question isn’t”, for example, “is it reliable enough?” or “am I promising enough?”
No, Seth said that the most important question is, “Do they trust me enough to believe my promises?”
When I read these words I realised what a crucial question this is when it comes to the way you lead…
Strong Trust Is Crucial For Business
Do your team members, peers and boss trust you enough to believe your promises/your virtuous intention/that’ll you’ll back them when they need your backing/and so on?
It’s crucial that they believe you—100%.
As Stephen Covey reported, “When trust is low, in a company or in a relationship, it places a hidden tax on every transaction, every communication, every interaction, every strategy, every decision—bringing speed down and sending costs up.”
Also, Towers Watson, a global consulting firm, said high trust companies outperform low trust companies by almost 300%.
Not only is low trust bad for business, you’ll often feel like you’re paddling upstream in a fast flowing river when you don’t get good traction with your relationships.?
As A Leader, It’s Your Job To Kindle Trust
Seth said, “Earn trust, earn trust, earn trust. Then you can worry about the rest.”
Assuming competence and that you do what you say you’ll do, you can immediately begin to up the trust that people have in you by:
- Listening—I mean really listening. Give the speaker 100% of your attention.
It’s easy to underestimate the value of 100% listening. And let’s be realistic—if I pretend to listen 100% when I’m only listening 65%, am I deserving of your trust? I think not.
- Get what they’re saying and let them know you get it.
This doesn’t mean you have to agree with them. It means you need to keep eliciting their perspective until you genuinely understand where they’re coming from.
- Candidly, yet respectfully, confronting issues head on.
You’re not paid to tiptoe or sugar coat. You’re in your job to courageously deal with things—especially the difficult things. No ducking and diving allowed if you’re to create 100% trust in you.
Your Leadership Call To Action
How much do you think the people you work with perceive that you, consistently, fully listen, fully understand and candidly and respectfully confront issues head on?
Is it 100%? 75%? Less?
Anything less than 100% is bad for business.
Lifting your percentage will increase the trust others have in you—and cause “speed to go up and costs to come down”.
Let’s remember, high trust is seriously good for business.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Carolyn Stevens has worked with leaders for more than 25-years—hundreds of them.
She’s supported leader after leader (including those who previously struggled to confront the difficult, let alone persuasively deal with the it) flourish—and become confident, courageous and impressively influential.
Carolyn is authentic and results-oriented. She draws on an eclectic array of approaches, tools and techniques to suit the situation.
