By Dr. Ray Benedetto, DM, LFACHE, Colonel, USAF, MSC (Ret), Co-founder of GuideStar, Inc. and Co-author of It’s My Company Too! How Entangled Companies Move Beyond Employee Engagement for Remarkable Results
What’s next after you’ve got the right people on the bus who are aligned with your company’s core values? You’ve got to build trust, which is your most important responsibility as a leader. Building and maintaining trust is a critical competence to be an effective leader because trust is the foundation to all relationships. As I noted in a previous article on human capital, relationship capital leads to reputational capital through which you achieve financial capital. If relationships aren’t secure, then the financial foundation of your enterprise is on shaky ground.
Although trust is vital to all relationships, it’s especially crucial in building employee morale, loyalty, and commitment. Simply defined, “trust” is belief in another’s intentions, actions, and commitment that stems from our perceptions of others. Recall that actions speak louder than words.
Unfortunately, we have a crisis in trust within organizations today, evidence of which is the low level of employee engagement, as reported by Gallup over the past 22 years, and the Great Resignation where employees from companies in all industries have said, “enough is enough” and left corporate jobs for positions with less stress and greater regard for their personal well-being. Are you doing all you can do to build trust to prevent these events from unfolding in your company? Here are some things to consider:
First, building trust begins with acknowledging that people are the heart and soul of our companies. Without them, nothing happens, so treating them with respect and honoring their efforts is table stakes, not only in today’s economy but always.
Second, have you evaluated your preferred leadership style and how you communicate with others? The old “command and control” style went out the door years ago, but it still exists in many companies where owners think they are entitled to be “the boss.” However, people don’t like to be told what to do if they know their jobs well. Today’s enlightened workforce expects more of leaders, especially being able to communicate with different generations with varying perspectives on life’s priorities.
Third, how are you developing your company culture to recognize and reward efforts, support experimentation and failure, challenge the status quo, and energize mental creativity? Many candidates today have unrealistic salary expectations, but finding the right job is not about the money. It’s about finding the right culture where than can contribute their best, be appreciated for their efforts, feel good about being their authentic selves every day, and growing to be better each day they show up. How does your culture do that?
No one said leadership is easy, and what we’re experiencing today is nothing short but seismic shifts in mental approaches toward work, the way we do work, and the structures that support best performance. If you feel unsettled about this, you’re in company with many other leaders.
The timing of this article could not be better because you are now invited to join company leaders for a free, live 90-minute leadership webinar, Building Trust for Effective Leadership, next Tuesday, May 17th , at 10 AM Central. You’ll learn about the Leadership Styles that build or destroy it, the Five Keys to Building a Trusting Culture, and a framework for achieving organizational trust and performance excellence. It’s worth your time to learn what works now and in the future. Please click here to register:
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