3 Keys to Creating a Culture of Trust
Trust
sets the stage for meaningful ideas and contributions that take a company to
the next level.
Every great company
started from a great idea, or built upon an existing great idea. Somewhere, an
entrepreneur with a desire to make things better had a thought about a product
or service the world needed, and they went for it. But that's not all it takes.
Along the way, other people joined the team and contributed new and thoughtful
ideas, adding to and supporting the original idea.
Companies are built
layer upon layer from great ideas given by your team. These ideas encourage and
direct ways to become better, differentiate your business, solve problems, take
away pain, do great things and win. When new ideas stop, business stalls and
failure increases. Ideas come from people, growth comes from people and
successful business exists because of talented people.
So, trust your people!
Without trusting your team to contribute in meaningful ways, you fail. It's the
leader's responsibility to ensure a culture of trust exists, which invites and
rewards opinions and innovative ideas.
Here are three keys to
building trust.
1. Listen.
Many of us are horrible
listeners because we're too busy, we assume we already get the point, we jump
to conclusions, we keep adding our own two cents or we just don't care enough.
We need to be better. When we really listen, we build trust. Listening makes us
more approachable, and employees will believe we have an open mind and that
we'll both hear and understand them. Employees know when you're faking it--so
it needs to be real.
Action follows if you
truly listen, even if it's to simply explain why an idea is worth pursuing or
if it just can't be a priority right now. Also, where it makes sense, give
ideas life and a chance to succeed or they'll stop. Listening is active, not
passive.
2. Be humble.
Regardless of how
smart you are, you don't know everything and you'll never have the collective
brainpower, knowledge and insight of every employee. So be humble enough to
recognize that great ideas come from everyone.
I worked with a
programmer who was incredibly intelligent and at times offensive to other team
members. It built resentment and frustration, not trust. I asked him to operate
under the assumption that there is always the possibility that he could be
wrong. I suggest we all operate that way. Be open to improvement, change,
innovation and then make sure to highlight others. It's amazing the trust that
can be built by giving honest praise to the true sources of good things.
3. Give employees freedom.
Truly listening and a
little humility should naturally lead to employee freedom. People thrive when
they're open to challenge the status quo and have a meaningful impact on their
work. They need freedom to grow, freedom to run, freedom to learn and even freedom
to fail.
We've all been in, or
heard about, those toxic environments where employees operate out of fear--that
mess-up-and-lose-your-job fear or I'm-the-boss-and-I'm-king-of-you fear. For
those of you with people in your organization who create this feeling, fire
them now. Actually, try to train them, but if they won't change, then fire
them. Fear creates toxic cultures, and toxic cultures kill trust.
A culture of freedom,
wisely crafted and providing a framework of mission and vision, will lead to an
incredible result.
http://www.inc.com/ben-peterson/3-keys-to-creating-a-culture-of-trust.html?cid=em01014week04
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