PAG's World of Work Blog - How Can Leaders and Senior Managers Demonstrate Trust?

Monday, August 30, 2010

How Can Leaders and Senior Managers Demonstrate Trust?

In the last in a series of three blogs on trust, inspired by the research findings of Maritz Research findings in the US, I tackle the tricky question: how can leaders and senior managers demonstrate that they trust their employees?

The obvious way of doing so is to delegate tasks and responsibilities, with the proviso of course, that employees have the requisite knowledge, skills-levels, decision-making powers and resources to succeed. Delegation sends a very clear signal that one has every confidence in one’s employees. One trusts one’s employees to perform. There is a caveat, however: with responsibility, comes accountability.

It is important to recognise that trust is always history-dependent. One is unlikely to trust a complete stranger, since the stranger, has no track record. One does not know whether the stranger is honest, reliable, or trustworthy. Fortunately, one’s employees have a history, so risks are calculated risks. There is a track record of past behaviour, making qualities such as reliability, responsibility, honesty and integrity, quantifiable. The leader or senior manager also has a track record. Hopefully, from her employee’s perspective, her trustworthiness account is firmly “in the black”.

A quote from an anonymous source reminds us that: “It takes years to build up trust, and only seconds to destroy it.”

This begs the question: what if the employee fails? Here, learning organisations have a distinct advantage. Leaders of these organisations allow their employees to learn from their mistakes. This behaviour demonstrates high-levels of trust and builds high levels of trust and loyalty. The importance thereof cannot be underestimated.

The operating environment in the 21^st century is characterised by change and uncertainty. It is risky for employees to follow their leaders in this white water environment. Employees need leaders they can trust, and leaders, need employees they can trust to follow them. In this environment, trust is irrefutably the best currency any leader can possibly have.

Cardinal de Retz leaves leaders with a very sobering thought: “A man who doesn’t trust himself can never really trust anyone else.”

Leaders, and senior managers, how do you measure up? Do you truly trust yourself?

Monday, August 30, 2010 5:08:44 PM (South Africa Standard Time, UTC+02:00)

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