How Effective Leaders Earn (and Maintain) Trust

Effective leaders are intentional about earning trust.

But it's not enough to earn it... Earning trust and maintaining trust are two very different things.

Without the trust of your team, you've likely lost your ability to be an effective leader who can inspire and support people to achieve differentiated outcomes.

And "your team" is an intentional phrase.

That could mean 8,000 employees if you're CEO, 250 people if you're department head, or 2 people if you're a new manager.

I don't care how many people you lead, every leader will need to be trusted by their teammates.

And what's the foundation to trust? Respect.

We respect decisions and trust people.

So how do you, as a leader, go about earning respect for decisions you make and therefore gaining and maintaining the trust of your team?

You do a great job of doing three things:

1. Bringing your team into your vision & strategy

2. Including your team in your decision-making process

3. Communicating your decisions effectively

1. Painting a clear picture of where we're going.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about my approach to designing intentional strategies that lead to differentiated results.

If you missed it, you can ​read it here.​​

There's a reason my first email in this series was about strategy.

Strategy is the foundation.

I'll say it again and you'll likely hear me say it many more times in these emails: All roads lead to/from strategy.

From a leadership perspective, a well-defined, documented, and distributed strategy is the thing that gives people purpose.

"Why does my role matter in this organization?" is a question that we want everyone on our team to have a clear answer to.

And sometimes, we have to make that really clear for people.

Stating where we're going isn't always enough.

Communicate to your individual business units, departments, and/or team members the unique role they play in helping the organization achieve what it's set out to achieve.

"I know where we're going and I make a difference to us getting there." is the first element of earning trust.

2. Include your team in your decision-making process.

How many times have you read a business book or seen a LinkedIn post that emphasizes the importance of talking to your customers?

Look, I'm not saying I disagree with the advice. It's a sound suggestion.

And what about your employees? How often do those same books suggest talking to them?

In order for our team to trust us, they first need to respect the decisions we make.

Notice I said respect, not like. There's a huge difference.

I can tell you this: Everyone will NOT like every decision you make as a CEO (or leader). Heck, we might not even like every decision we have to make.

So it's not only ok, but a good idea to accept and expect that people in your organization will not like every decision you make. Allow for that and communicate it.

That sounds something like, "You will probably not like this decision and I completely understand. It is ok for you not to like it. I am asking for you to respect it."

So how do you earn people's respect for decisions they don't like?

You make them feel included in the decision-making process.

Now, let's be realistic about what this looks like.

If you are the CEO of a 10,000-person company, it's unrealistic to expect you will ask for 10,000 opinions when making a decision.

If you are leading a 6 person team, it's more realistic to have 1:1 conversations with people to get their input.

At its core, this is about making people who will be affected by your decision feel like their interests were considered throughout the process.

• Talk to people 1 on 1

• Build focus groups (and a focus group of senior leaders isn't a real focus group)

• Use surveys or other methods to gather large amounts of info from your team

It's amazing... when we ask people what they want, they'll likely tell us.

Now, you have to check yourself as a leader because your team may tell you they want something that you don't agree with.

Now what?

We figure out if you're willing to BREAK THE MOLD™, or not.

3. The way you communicate matters.

No matter what decision you make as a leader or the exact process it took to get there, the way you communicate your decision can make or break this whole process.

You could do every step before this correctly and if you communicate it incorrectly (especially difficult decisions), you just effectively lost all the work that was done before that moment.

Here's the simple process I've used to communicate change to my teams:

1. Describe what is happening.

2. Describe the decision-making process (why it’s happening).

3. Describe the impact the change will have on everyone (including you).

4. Describe the benefit of making this change (especially for them).

One time as CEO, I had to make a difficult decision related to our employee benefits. The change affected all employees, even me.

And I knew no one was going to like it—because I didn't even like it.

I told everyone what was happening.

I brought everyone into the discussions that were had and the most important things that had to be considered when making this decision.

I didn't feed them BS, I told them the truth.

"We considered this from all angles and felt a difficult decision had to be made." is a cop-out. That's not transparency.

Explain why you made the decision. Was it a financial decision? Say it.

And here's the most pivotal part: As you talk about the impact of the decision, give people permission to not like it.

"I recognize you will not like this decision and that is perfectly ok. I don't expect you to like it. I am asking for you to respect it."

Next, explain the impact of the decision and include yourself in that impact. Heck, tell people if you're upset about the decision. Position yourself on the same side as your team.

It's not you vs. your team.

It's all of you vs. the decision.

Lastly, explain the benefit of making this decision. Sure, people might not like it on the surface, but if you're clear about why the decision was made, communicate the benefit.

Does it make you a more financially sound organization? Does it prevent layoffs? Unless it was a purely selfish decision, there's always a benefit to be found.

To recap:

1. Describe what is happening.

2. Describe the decision-making process.

3. Describe the impact the change will have on everyone.

4. Describe the benefit of making this change.

Conclusion

People respect decisions and trust people.

If you want to be a leader that people trust and are willing to support as you go about achieving the vision you've set as an organization, be intentional with the way you lead.

1. Bring your team into your vision & strategy

2. Include your team in your decision-making process

3. Communicate your decisions effectively

Do those things over and over, and you will earn respect for the decisions you make and therefore earn (and maintain) trust.

And when you can do that, you and your organization are likely on your way to BREAK THE MOLD™.

With intention,
Alan D Whitman