According to the Edleman Trust Barometer, the US suffered the most significant trust reduction in history during the last half of 2008, and 2009 has not seen a significant rebound. We are in a national crisis of trust.
All leaders would like to make improvements in trust because they realize the incredible loss in morale and productivity that occur when trust is deminished. Unfortunately, the draconian actions required to survive make building trust in these economic times seem impossible.
My model for building trust is easy to understand and apply. It is equally effective in times of prosperity or great uncertainty. The model describes three areas of focus:
- Table Stakes – like the “ante” in poker where certain conditions are required to even play in the game.
- Enabling Actions – where the more you do of these things, the higher trust you can build.
- Reinforcing Candor – the elusive but key ingredient that makes the most difference in building trust in organizations. This includes the “ratchet effect” of how trust is hard to build but easy to destroy.
Read white paper on the entire model
http://www.leadergrow.com/ReinforceCandorItBuildsTrustandTransparency.pdf
Often leadership experts look at trust as in “How do I get those that I work with to trust me?” It is my contention that trust for leaders start with the leader trusting their co-workers first. Often leaders don’t trust their team members not because the team members are not trust worthy, but because the leader has issues around trust. Trust is one of the key component of leadership and if the leader does not trust their team and organization how is it possible to lead them.
Reblogged this on Gr8fullsoul.