Article on Leadership Skills:

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Source: www.what-are-good-leadership-skills.com, ©Emily A. Sterrett, Ph.D. Reprinted with permission.

Building Trust

Your employees’ level of trust for you is one of your biggest sources of power. The level of trust is a much larger source of power than all the instructions, rules, policies, and authority you can wield. When people truly trust you, they will regularly go above and beyond for you and even accomplish the impossible when the chips are down. Increasing people’s trust in you is in your best interest: they will make you look good, and the climate in the workplace is less stressful.

Stephen Covey, internationally-known management author, talks about building trust using the metaphor of a bank account. Trust is built in the same way that one builds a monetary bank account—through regular deposits. The types of emotional deposits you make in someone trust bank account determine how big your account is, and therefore, how much you have available to withdraw. You make emotional deposits with others by doing simple actions that may seem almost insignificant to you but have a powerful cumulative affect on an individual. Consider the following ideas for raising your employees’ level of trust in you.

Ways to Increase Trust

Show kindness and consideration – Do something small that you don’t have to do. Bring someone a cup of coffee in the morning or notice when someone is not their usual self and offer a sympathetic word.

Be polite – Speak to people in the hallways or the break room. Don’t interrupt people when you walk up to them and they are in conversation. Introduce employees to your guests. Use good manners and do all those things mom taught you.

Express appreciation – Thank your employees, even when they do something you expected of them. Acknowledge their collective efforts at group meetings. Give more credit than you have to. Praise employees to your own manager and higher-ups.

Show support – When they have made a mistake, stay calm and help them analyze what went wrong and how they can fix it. Harsh criticism makes a withdrawal, not a deposit.

Express personal interest – If you know they went to the races on the weekend, ask how they enjoyed it. If your employee’s mother has been hospitalized, ask how she is doing.

Stand up for them – When your people are being unfairly criticized, stand up for them with your managers and peers if they did their best. On the other hand, if the criticism is valid, be honest with your employees and let them help you consider possible changes you can make to improve.

Pitch in when times are tight – If everyone is in a crunch, be willing to roll up your sleeves and help them out. Do what needs to be done to help your unit achieve its deadline.

On a daily basis, you have to continue to make small deposits with simple actions and a genuinely caring attitude.When you make enough of these deposits by doing little things that show consideration for your employees, they will respond with a high level of trust for you. If you earn high trust, you can make withdrawals without getting your account overdrawn. For the manager or supervisor, this means that when you need to ask them to work extra hours or ask for their commitment through a time of change or turmoil, your balance in their emotional bank account will remain high, despite making this withdrawal. When the balance is in the black, the working relationship will remain strong and performance high.

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