Can you be trusted, or do you have a fox behind your ear?
To have high trust in a team is the most basic foundation for a team to be able to perform, and it begins with high trust in the leader.
To build trust is strongly connected to how you are, what you do and what you say. This is of course true for everyone, and not just the leader.
Here are three concrete points to think about, which build trust in you as a person:
Show that you are vulnerable and that you also make mistakes
To be open about mistakes and admit that you also can be wrong and make errors is a very important trait for building trust. Be open about what you know, what you can respond to, what you cannot respond to or don’t know. Don’t make up things or give an inexplicit response. Don’t try to guess – your employees and colleagues will see through this.
If you don’t know or cannot answer a question which turns up, admit this instead and say that perhaps you can find the answer. If you have made a mistake, which you probably have done at some point, talk about this and what you learned from it.
Be open and clear about the intention behind your actions
One of the most efficient ways to build trust is to make the intention behind your actions clear. This is quite logical when you think about it, because to understand another person’s purpose is exactly what trust is about.
To be clear about the intention behind an action means that you are open about why you say what you say, make the decisions you do or act the way you act. This is also true if you don’t act, don’t say or don’t decide. Quite simply, be open and explain your intentions.
Keep your promises
You often talk about “walk the talk” being important, and it really is important. To just talk and give promises is an efficient way to undermine the trust in you. Only promise what you can keep and be clear about what you cannot promise. Then make sure to tell about what you do and what you have done, related to your promises. This creates trust in you.
Building trust doesn’t happen over night, it takes time.
Trust is about your intentions and your behavior. Be clear about why you do something, be honest and then make sure to get it done.
You can hold as many team events you like, but if you don’t show that you also can make mistakes during these, then your team will not trust you.
You can give praise to your team every week, but if you don’t follow up on your obligations, then your words won’t mean anything.
You can share status about the company’s finances and what happens in different projects, but if you don’t tell people about your intentions about what you will do with that information, then your team will be skeptical to you.
Think about what you do with what you say. Your words and your actions as a leader, and also as a team member, build trust.
Do you want to develop your team and yourself as leader?
Check out Puls employee engagement platform
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Puls Solutions exists because we want to develop teams and leaders to feel and perform better.
We offer an AI-based employee engagement platform to create the right conditions for a good work environment and high employee engagement. A platform that is the team´s best friend.
Our platform involves the employees, relieves the managers and helps them to prioritize and implement improvements that leads to increased employee engagement and increased business results. For real.
