Truth be told, in today’s world the concept of trust and leadership don’t seem to go hand in hand that easily, even when they should always be linked together. Part of the reason is that we are bombarded by the media with stories that shake our faith in leaders and cause us to believe that trust and leadership may even contradict each other. Hence, leaders find their efforts to lead increasingly futile, and many fail in their missions because they could not inspire trust.
Joel Peterson, the author of The 10 Laws of Trust: Building the Bonds That Make a Business Great, once said that “trust is more powerful than power itself”. This can imply that regardless of your title — be it CEO, director or manager — your power as a leader does not derive from your position or title; rather, it comes from your ability to build trust with those around you.
It is easy to understand why companies and institutions want leaders that people trust and have confidence in. Trust in leadership is one indicator of the health of an organisation: people are far more willing to take risks or work harder for leaders they have confidence in, people they trust to behave fairly and justly. A workforce that trusts its leadership is far more effective and efficient than one that doesn’t.
The leadership of any organisation plays a large part in how the organisation is perceived: if the leader is seen as untrustworthy or incompetent, the entire organisation is perceived that way. If people feel an institution is untrustworthy, they are likely to go elsewhere for — or simply not use — whatever service or transaction that institution provides. This can be terribly damaging.
In addition, people who are in organisations where the leadership is not trusted tend to show uncertainty, avoid risks, fear change, and display little long-term thinking or planning.
In this sense, it is also an unfortunate truth that trust is hard to gain but easy to lose. People lose faith in leaders — and the institutions they lead — when they see leaders change their stories to suit their audience, pass responsibility (and blame) onto others, avoid accountability for projects or programmes, keep the credit and rewards of success for themselves, and distance themselves from their own people when leadership failures cause problems.
There are few books or guides that can teach you how to become trusted, or how to behave with confidence. One thing for sure, trust cannot be bought: money only buys you temporary loyalty. Trust is something that others give to a leader, based on their experience with that leader. It comes from interactions with the leader, clear communications, kept promises, transparency and consistency. Trust is a two-way street: you have to trust others if you want them to trust you.
At the organisational level, if the people within the organisation don’t trust one another, then I’m certain that all sorts of problems would eventually start to arise: collaboration decreases, communication stagnates, innovation ceases, employee engagement declines, productivity fails and the organisation itself might possibly be disrupted.
So, how do we begin to develop trust in a way that is long-lasting? The answer goes back to the issue of mindset. I believe an outward mindset is the foundation of trust. It might be possible but it would be very difficult to build a trusting culture without an outward mindset culture.
This is because in order for us to trust others, we need to know that others are not just out for themselves. When we operate with an outward mindset, we value the opinions and objectives of those around us as much as we value our own, and we realise that we are fighting on the same team for the same goals and have certain obligations toward one another.
In contrast, with an inward mindset, people tend to prioritise their own concerns, goals and values above those of others, which certainly could create an erosion of trust.
Furthermore, in order to develop trust in organisations, it’s crucial to make sure that your people truly work and deliver on their responsibilities. Accountability allows people to develop a complete sense of honesty toward one another. It means that you can count on others to do what they’re committed to do without having to wonder if others will work with full dedication.
In sum, with an outward mindset, people hold themselves accountable for their positive impact on one another, which will lead to a high-trust culture that fosters innovation, flexibility and collaboration.
Last but not least, trust is also the key foundation for people development. It will help put people in the right mindset to learn, to develop and to execute. If you would like to know how, I’ll tell you in the next article.
Arinya Talerngsri is Chief Capability Officer and Managing Director at SEAC (formerly APMGroup) Southeast Asia's leading executive, leadership and innovation capability development centre. She can be reached by email at arinya_t@seasiacenter.com or www.linkedin.com/in/arinya-talerngsri-53b81aa
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