In the May edition of the Ignite! Newsletter published by The Ken Blanchard Companies there is an interesting article on trust. The article discusses the ABCD Trust Model™ from Cynthia Olmstead, founder and president of TrustWorks Group, Inc. which comprises the following four elements of trust:

• Able: demonstrates competence, expertise, experience, and capability in getting the desired results accomplished
• Believable: walks the talk of a core set of values, demonstrates honesty, and uses fair, equitable practices
• Connected: interacts with staff, communicates and shares relevant information, provides praise, and gives recognition
• Dependable: is accountable, takes responsibility for own actions, and consistently follows up

As we are all aware trust is the foundation of all effective leadership, however trust does not just happen. It’s something that a leader must consciously and constantly work on developing. When it comes to developing trust, actions matter! Cynthia Olmstead goes on to explain that “…people need to see trust in action more that they need to hear about it.” It’s only as leader’s act in a trustworthy manner, by example that trust is developed.

Without trust effective leadership is impossible. Consider the following:

• Considering the four elements of trust how do you and other leaders in your organisation rate?
• What impact does this have on your ability to lead?
• What actions can you take this week to improve the level of trust?

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1. Factors That leaders Should Manage To Encourage Trust
2. David Maister on the Four Dimensions of Trust
3. David Maister on Trust

An article by Diane Coutu discusses the importance of rebuilding leadership in these challenging economic times. The article authors observe that while there’s no single way to create trust, humanist psychologists agree that the best way to generate it is to show competence, integrity, respect, and consistency. Certainly it’s no coincidence that these are the qualities of timeless leadership:

• Competence lays the foundation for trust. It’s the thing that first attracts followers, even if the leader’s character is not particularly noble. Soldiers prefer winning tyrants to likeable losers. In business, employees look to their leaders to take the decisions that make sure they’ll keep their jobs and get paid.
• Integrity is the next step in the hierarchy of trust. A leader must be honest in his dealings with others or he will quickly squander the trust that he earned through being competent. It’s important for leaders to remember that followers are more likely to forgive lapses in competence than lapses in integrity. "You’re incompetent," for example, carries none of the sting that "you betrayed me" does.
• Respect is the glue that keeps the trusting relationship going. Civility and appreciation for the dignity of others is both the cause, and the result, of trust. The arrogance of the car bosses in calling for their executive jets showed a profound disrespect both for their employees and for the American taxpayer. This kind of disrespect boomerangs, eventually, given the emphasis most people place on fairness.
• Consistency is the real engine of trust. Even if a leader shows competence, integrity, and respect, but fails to behave consistently, she won’t capture people’s hearts and minds. No one wants to follow a leader who is trustworthy one moment and unpredictable the next. Without reliability, there can only be pseudo trust between people – especially in relations where the power is asymmetrical.

These four competencies provide a solid foundation from which trust can be built or re-built.

• How do you apply these competencies in your daily life?
• Are you consciously building your trust quotient?

Technorati Tags: Trust, Character, Leadership, Management, Business, Integrity, Competence, Respect, Consistency

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Photo by purplejavatroll

Trust is critical in times of adversity and crisis…

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” – Martin Luther King Jr

Trust forms the cornerstone of effective leadership. Research by Kurt Dirks a professor of organizational behaviour at Olin, discusses his research findings in the article “In the Face of Adversity, Trust in Leaders Essential for Performance” showing how trust increases an employees initiative, performance, their willingness to accept responsibility and to take risks to improve business outcomes. In a 2000 professor Dirks studied NCAA basketball players and found that after he…

“…statistically adjusted the information for other determinants of team performance – player talent and tenure, coach experience and track record, preseason and prior-year performance, and trust among team members. Players’ trust in their head coach accounted for about a 7 percent winning advantage.”

Concerning trust professor Dirks research found that:

“…the perception of a leader’s trustworthiness is based on three factors: competence, integrity and benevolence. In other words, do followers believe the leader has the skills and ability to meet the current challenges; the core values to make tough decisions that benefit the entire organization, as opposed to a particular group; and the compassion to consider the specific implications of his or her judgment on various individuals and their career opportunities and compensation?… ”

The professor goes on to note findings of his research showing that:

“… people will forgive a leader who compromises their trust because of a lapse of competence. With lapses of integrity, not so much. …’There’s a general assumption that competence is a fixable quality, which suggests that leaders can apologize for the lapse of expertise and address how they will do better in the future,’ he said. ‘In contrast, integrity is viewed as a fixed quality. Violations of ethics or honesty are much harder, and sometimes impossible, to repair. Consequently, a leader must cultivate an image of personal integrity and form positive relationships with subordinates.’”

The development and strengthening of trust create a solid foundation for leadership. To sustain trusting relationships requires that we act with integrity... that…

• We do what we say we will do.
• We live up to the values and beliefs that we espouse.
• We are true to ourselves.
• We live our vision.
• We do not copy.

This is the hallmark of leadership. Acting with integrity and building trust. How are you doing?

Related posts:

1. How is Your Trust Rating?
2. David Maister on the Four Dimensions of Trust
3. Factors That leaders Should Manage To Encourage Trust

Management-issues has a great article that asks the question “Does your behavior damage trust?” and list the following 25 behaviours that contribute to creating mistrust within your team:

1. You fail to keep your promises, agreements and commitments.
2. You serve your self first and others only when it is convenient.
3. You micromanage and resist delegating.
4. You demonstrate an inconsistency between what you say and how you behave.
5. You fail to share critical information with your colleagues.
6. You choose to not tell the truth.
7. You resort to blaming and scapegoating others rather than own your mistakes.
8. You judge, and criticize rather than offer constructive feedback.
9. You betray confidences, gossip and talk about others behind their backs.
10. You choose to not allow others to contribute or make decisions.
11. You downplay others’ talents, knowledge and skills.
12. You refuse to support others with their professional development.
13. You resist creating shared values, expectations and intentions in favor of your own agenda; you refuse to compromise and foster win-lose arguments.
14. You refuse to be held accountable by your colleagues.
15. You resist discussing your personal life, allowing your vulnerability, disclosing your weaknesses and admitting your relationship challenges.
16. You rationalize sarcasm, put-down humor and off-putting remarks as “good for the group”.
17. You fail to admit you need support and don’t ask colleagues for help.
18. You take others’ suggestions and critiques as personal attacks.
19. You fail to speak up in team meetings and avoid contributing constructively.
20. You refuse to consider the idea of constructive conflict and avoid conflict at all costs.
21. You consistently hijack team meetings and move them off topic.
22. You refuse to follow through on decisions agreed upon at team meetings.
23. You secretly engage in back-door negotiations with other team members to create your own alliances.
24. You refuse to give others the benefit of the doubt and prefer to judge them without asking them to explain their position or actions.
25. You refuse to apologize for mistakes, misunderstandings and inappropriate behavior and dig your heels in to defend yourself and protect your reputation.

Looking at the above list how are you doing? Are you creating or destroying trust?

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1. David Maister on the Four Dimensions of Trust
2. How is Your Trust Rating?
3. How Leaders Build Trust

I stumbled across these “10 Thoughts about Leadership” from Jon Gordon’s blog which are great and I thought them worth sharing.

1. People follow the leader first and the leader’s vision second – It doesn’t matter if the leader shares a powerful vision, if the leader is not someone who people will follow the vision will never be realized. As a leader, who you are makes a difference. The most important message you can share is yourself.
2. Trust is the force that connects people to the leader and his/her vision – Without trust there is a huge gap between the leader and the vision. Without trust people will stay off the bus. However if people trust the leader they will hop on the bus with the leader and help move the bus forward towards the vision.
3. Leadership is not just about what you do but what you can inspire, encourage and empower others to do.
4. A leader brings out the best within others by sharing the best within themselves.
5. Just because you’re driving the bus doesn’t mean you have the right to run people over – Abraham Lincoln said “Most anyone can stand adversity, but to test a man’s character give him power.” The more power you are granted the more it is your responsibility to serve, develop and empower others. When you help them grow they’ll help you grow.
6. “Rules without Relationship Leads to Rebellion” – Andy Stanley said this and it’s one of my favorite quotes. As a leader you can have all the rules you want but if you don’t invest in your people and develop a relationship with them they will rebel. This applies amazingly to children as well. It’s all about relationships.
7. Lead with optimism, enthusiasm and positive energy, guard against pessimism and weed out negativity.
8. Great Leaders know they don’t have all the answers. Rather they build a team of people who either know the answers or will find them.
9. Leaders inspire and teach their people to focus on solutions, not complaints. (The No Complaining Rule)
10. Great leaders know that success is a process not a destination – One of my heroes John Wooden, the legendary UCLA basketball coach, never focused on winning. He knew that winning was the by product of great leadership, teamwork, focus, commitment and execution of the fundamentals. As a leader focus on your people and process, not the outcome.

This list really resonated with me. Point 1 “People follow the leader first and the leader’s vision second” is so true. Unless people have the confidence in the leader’s character and his ability to successfully lead the way people will not follow. Have you given the necessary attention to you character and competence so that people have the confidence to follow? It’s this that create the trust, “the force that connects people to the leader and his/her vision”, which inspire the commitment to take action.

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