Trust leaders outperform trust laggards.

Employees consider trust critical to being effective in their jobs.

In my view, the most important thing is that managers understand that trust is a verb. Trust is something that must be an action that we do every day. Having worked in cultures of high trust I've seen the positive impact on results.  The worst managers that say they trust people but do not back this up with their actions.

(See The Speed of Trust by Stephen  M R Covey)


1. Be transparent but not unrealistic

Cautious optimism is better than making promises you can't keep. Broken promises are hard to recover from.

2. Ask, don’t tell

Ask why people hold particular opinions, understanding their why can uncover truths you were not aware of.

3. Faster, cheaper, easier, better

Those closes to the process can understand the best opportunities for operating faster, cheaper and easier. Involve them, ask them.

4. Lifelong learning for everyone

Leaders who are lifelong learners and exhibit that they do not know it all build trust faster than those who want to have all the answers.

5. Go slow with change

I'm not sure I agree with this.

The world is moving quickly and it is essential to review your strategy quarterly and be prepared to pivot. When trust is high and strong change methodology and communications are used then you should not wait too long before implementing change.

6. Act like a leader

Say please and thank you. Show gratitude for a job done well.

7. Extend trust

As per my top of the article comment. Trust must be exhibited not just talked about.

The leader has the responsibility for extending trust first. Creating an environment of safety is critical when implementing change.

Individually, the point the author makes are all sensible.

I would however add that there is not a one-toolkit-fits-all to building trust. Depending on the level of the team different behaviours will need to be deployed, i.e. a team leader managing a team of administrators will need to show more day to day support to the team than an exec managing a team of self motivating professionals.

I would like to add to the article that solid decision making is important to building trust. Not just the quality of the decision making but also deploying those decisions confidently. When managers 'flip & flop' between options this often undermines their authority and leads to a lack of trust from their team.
 
 

This is an excellent argument with salient points which I will use in my role. Obviously this is promoting a very common sense approach to managing change but sometimes we get stuck in the mechanics of the process rather than focussing on the outcomes.