Do your colleagues and team members trust you? You may say “yes, of course.” But do you really know? I’ve worked with managers who didn’t have an accurate perception of how their team members perceived them. This negatively affected the trust, communication and results of the team.
Below are eight behaviors that reflect trustworthiness. Are there a few that could use more attention in your role as a leader?
- Being self-aware. When you’re self-aware, you know how you’re perceived. You know what thoughts and beliefs are driving your behavior. You know when you’re operating from your ego and when you’re not. With that knowledge, you can manage your behavior to build trust and get the best results from your team. As a Leadership Coach and a client of a coach, a coaching partnership is one of the best ways to increase your self-awareness. A skilled coach can ask the right questions, observe patterns, and help clients uncover beliefs that are driving behaviors. Observing your own behaviors, journaling your observations, meditating, and reading thought-provoking books can also help improve self-awareness.
- Bettering yourself. You’re consistently striving to become a better leader – building on your strengths and working on your weaknesses.
- Admitting mistakes. If you can’t admit your mistakes, your team members won’t feel comfortable admitting theirs. They also won’t be able to trust that there’s accountability for the team. Mistakes are inevitable. It’s how you handle them that makes a difference.
- Allowing disagreement. You feel comfortable with your team members disagreeing with you and disagreeing with each other. How else will you get people’s best ideas? If team members’ ideas are ignored, dismissed, or treated with condescension, they won’t keep sharing their ideas, which creates stagnation and limits the team’s results.
- Soliciting feedback. Team members are often hesitant to provide their manager with feedback even if they are asked for it. If there’s trust, a team member is more likely to provide it. Still, it’s helpful if the manager asks open-ended questions that help the feedback process. Examples may be: How can I better support you in your role? What can I do more of/less of to help you grow in your role? You can also bring in a coach who will interview team members and colleagues and bring the summary of the feedback to you. This takes courage, but working with a coach will provide a supportive environment and help you grow as a leader.
- Being honest. This should be a given, and yet I feel the need to include it. There are times when softening the language and withholding executive information may be necessary. However, your team members need to trust you to tell the truth and trust your motives. Saying what you mean and doing what you say are critical to the trust factor.
- Allowing for individuality. Your team members won’t trust you if they don’t feel like they can be themselves around you. Some of your team members are introverts; some are extroverts. Their strengths vary. Their personalities vary. Allowing team members to use their strengths and shine in their individual ways will build trust and lead to better results.
- Actively listening. Team members bring more to the table and can be more engaged with the mission if they feel heard. Even if they don’t fully agree with a decision, they can more easily contribute to the work knowing their thoughts were valued.
Please share which behavior resonates most with you – as a positive experience or challenging one…
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