Tuesday 18 February 2020

How Trustworthy Are You As A Leader?

I’ve been working a lot with my clients recently around the concept of trust.

As an ex-pharmaceutical sales representative, I remember all too well the Tylenol scandal from the 80s where 7 people died because some of the tablets had been laced with cyanide by a rogue agent. The CEO took the decision to pull $100m worth of product within 2 minutes of finding out what had happened. Compare and contrast this approach with the challenges currently facing Boeing and their difficulty in getting their newest 737 fleet back up in the air and regaining the trust of their airline clients who have invested heavily in them, and the passengers everywhere who need to use them.

And they are not the only brand facing these kinds of struggles…..

I have worked for a number of years with a range of fantastic clients, colleagues and business partners, and the conclusion I have reached of late relates to one person and - candidly - it surprised me. Her behaviours are superficially very inclusive and supportive, however what I have noticed on closer inspection is a high self-orientation, an astonishing need to ‘always be right’ and a lack of emotional intelligence which means that she behaves in a passive aggressive way to try and ‘win’ every point, should someone disagree with her.

I realise now that I simply don’t trust her.

So what makes us as leaders trust other people? What makes other people trust us? Is it about the speed of action? The willingness to take responsibility? Or the capability to apologise quickly? Or something else?

I have been discussing with my clients the reality that no matter how laden our corporate meeting rooms, walls and websites are with the values of the business, where these values really live is in our daily behaviours.

As leaders, a highly effective operational rhythm is reflective practice. We should build regular time on our calendars to consider what we’ve learnt, where we’ve grown, where we’ve failed. Where have we built trust through our behaviours? And where have we damaged the relationship by eroding trust?

The thing about trust is that it’s personal. It’s also very, very subtle. What works for one person won’t for another. What one person cares about is utterly irrelevant to another when it comes to understanding what makes them trust others.

To get this right, we need to pay attention, be curious, listen and observe carefully, as well as reflect regularly in order to understand what will make us trustworthy in the eyes of our team, our colleagues, our customers and our suppliers.

Great leaders build their brand by building trust with their people. After all, any marketing expert will tell you that brands are all about relationships, and for any successful relationship to work it has to be built on trust.

So, what will you be doing this year to strengthen your professional relationships, extend your sphere of influence and demonstrate that you are worthy of the trust of others?