Leadership is called to earn, build 

and maintain trust

(By Rick Lambert)

Trust is not a simple quality born out of nothing.  Trust is complex, and though it may be given easily, once lost, it can be extremely difficult, and in some cases impossible to restore.  Trust the product of positive actions.  As you respond to people with strength-building actions, you are rewarded with their trust.  It also works the same way when you are seeking to trust someone else.  These actions communicate to you that that person can be trusted.  Here are few often overlooked ways to begin the restoration process of trust.

Sincerity – This is nothing more than simply meaning what you say.  Sincerity is the realization that the recipient of your words will likely make some decision, or form some opinion that will affect future decisions.  It’s making sure they have the best, and most accurate information possible to make the best personal decision.  A sincere person doesn’t want to be part of damaging anyone.  Self-centeredness cripples trust.  It breeds insincerity.  This is why people tend not to trust salespeople.  This is not a slam against any salesperson; it’s simply that they must produce more sincerity in order to win the trust of others.

Selflessness (others focus) – Treat others the way you would want them to treat you and others, like a customer. Your trust is cultivated by your willingness to focus on the desires, goals, ambition, etc… of others, and making them part of your plan toward helping them fulfill it.  As you discover their motives, you can build effective trust.  Put yourself in the shoes of someone else.  It’s the ability to communicate to others how they are important to you. (That is, if they are.  You must be sincere.)

Self-control – Trust is evidenced in your ability to master events that surround you.  Allowing events to get the best of you diminishes your trust in the eyes of others.  Actions such as anger, harsh or unjust criticism, even laziness are indicators of weak self-control, and communicate loudly that you may not be able to be trusted.

Truthfulness – One of the greatest trust builders is simply being truthful.  Lying, exaggerations, even incomplete information can blemish your honesty, and make it difficult for others to trust you.

“Truthfulness is at the foundation of all personal excellence.  It exhibits itself in conduct. It is rectitude – truth in action, and shines through every word and deed.  It means reliableness, and convinces others that you can be trusted.  And a man is truly prepared when it is known that he can be relied on – that when he says he knows a thing, he does know it, and when he says he will do a thing, he can do it, and does it.  This reliableness (the ability to be trusted) becomes a passport to the general esteem and confidence of mankind” (Samuel Smiles).

Consistency – No quality should be more emphasized than this one.  Perfection is not expected in anyone, but consistency is a quintessential quality.  Without it, trust becomes weak, and is met with reluctance and cynicism.  Develop the traits that people admire, and that are considered strengths.  Practice them, and be an example of them.  This will add consistency to your position, and make you a more effective leader and manager.

Principles of Trust

(By Rick Lambert)

Trust inspires confidence

Trust, and the confidence it inspires is the one of the main problem-solving attributes available to the leader.  Trust is the fuel that empowers leadership.  The weaker the trust, the slower leadership can move and implement growth. 

Trust purifies motives

On the other hand, the lack of trust in leadership only serves to burn up confidence and render trust inoperative.  Trust is the purifying factor of effective leadership and strong organizations.

Trust is earned

Individuals will tend to guard themselves against others they don’t trust.  You trust someone when you feel that they are supportive of you – they keep their word, they care about you, understand you, and want to help you.  It takes time to build trust.  People do not trust each other until they have had time to get to know each other’s motives, values, character, knowledge, and skills.

Never forget that battles are first won in the hearts of men, and then they are won on the battlefield and in the workplace.  “If the worker thinks that the leadership from the top is not all it should be, the discipline of the workers on the shop floor is often far from good – indeed, it is sometimes thoroughly bad”  (General Montgomery).

Trust builds teamwork

Trust pulls coalitions together and unites all the participants into a common cause or course of action.  Trust is a combination of others knowing who you are, what you know, and what you plan to do.

“Trust is the highest form of human motivation.  It brings out the very best in people.  But it takes time and patience, and it doesn’t preclude the necessity to train and develop people so that their competency can rise to the level of that trust.”  (Steven Covey - The seven habits of highly effective people).

WHAT IS TRUST?

(By Rick Lambert)

Trust is the confidence that channels cooperation toward common goals.

Trust is an expression of confidence

Trust is an action of cooperation

Trust is an expectation of what is desired

Trust is like invested money.  As you place trust in people, you are banking on the hope that your trust will grow in that person. Trust is a gauge of expectation a team member puts on a leader; the greater the trust, the more acceptable the risks.

Trust is like a building.  It’s either being built on something or torn down.  Trust is built on common ground (having things in common with someone else).  The more you have in common (values, goals, purposes, ethics, beliefs, causes – the greater the trust.  If trust is violated, you have to rebuild what you once had in common.  It’s going in the same direction.  (The most similar directions you are heading with someone, the greater the ability to trust and be trusted.)  Having things in common inspires confidence. 

Cultivating Trust 

(by Rick Lambert)

Trust is like good soil.  It is conducive to growing the best qualities in others, and for others.  Out of the seeds of trust grow the ability to visualize, persuasively motivate followers, build loyalty, and move a team of people to bring out their best in experiencing the reality of that vision.

Trust is the #1 ingredient necessary in solving problems.  President Theodore Roosevelt said: “Problems differ from generation to generation, but the qualities needed to solve them remain unchanged from the world’s end to world’s end.”

Trust is what brings the “relationship” into business and its process.  People trust business as far as they can trust it’s the people in leadership.  Without trust, unity will dissolve.  Trust in the leadership builds trust in the organization or cause, and in the processes it chooses to conduct and track its business.

If you want others committed to something, increase their trust in you and the plan.  Commitment and trust go hand in hand.  Be committed, and others will trust.  Get others to trust you, and they in turn will be committed to the plan.

Every day requires some thought on how you will build or maintain the trust others have in you, or the trust you have in others.  Trust is most powerfully communicated by your consistency of life, and your ability to keep your word.  Be a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, or simply forget to follow-through on something you said you would do, and the trust others associate with you will take a hit.