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Early in my career, I had a boss that required me to submit daily status updates before leaving the office. At the time, I was leading a department of approximately 150 people, all working on several projects simultaneously. My boss was new to the organization and had only worked with us for a month or so before he began demanding these updates. My immediate thought was that I had done something wrong in his eyes. When I asked him about it (hoping to find some way to improve myself), he told me he believed subordinate leaders only told him “What he wanted to hear.” He also told me there was no way my department could perform at the level I was briefing during weekly meetings. Over six months, our relationship never improved, nor did his relationship with any other department supervisor. The organization’s culture was among the worst I have ever worked in.
Extend Trust Before Expecting It
As professionals, we tend to be generally untrusting of others until proven worthy. Without trust, teams will never be truly successful. However, trust must be earned – every time – without exception. Leaders within organizations must first earn the trust of their team before they can genuinely impact change and inspire greatness. To do this, leaders must trust their team by default until given a reason not to. The military preaches a “Trust but verify” mentality for young Officers, encouraging them to trust what their team is telling them but to verify the information.
Extending trust to your team first demonstrates a commitment to the team and the individuals. This commitment sets the stage for the team to trust the leader.
View Team Members As People, Not Resources
Get to know your team on both a personal and professional level. When teams become hyper-focused on goals, objectives, and outcomes, they tend to lose sight that everyone has a life outside of work. Organizations that treat employees as human-capital rather than seeing them as humans first tend to exploit the talents and energy of their staff without regard for their needs.
Make one-on-one meetings about more than work. Supervisors and first-line leadership have the unique opportunity to develop meaningful relationships with their team, both as people and as employees. When holding one-on-one meetings, leadership should weave in some personal-life discussions to get to know their team on a holistic level. I start every such conversation by getting an update on what is happening outside work, kids’ sports, spouse’s hobbies/job, vacations, holidays, etc. Initially, these discussions are short. Over time, as team members begin to realize that I actually care for them on a personal level, these discussions become more in-depth and allow me to connect better with them.
By connecting with your team on a personal and professional level, you not only encourage the development of trust within your team but also develop a better understanding of each team member. This allows you to lead them more effectively and fosters a genuine relationship.
Discuss, Don’t Hide, Failures
Talking about failure is uncomfortable for people. It is the acceptance that we are not perfect and exposes vulnerability. This becomes increasingly difficult when working in an organization that does not prioritize people and treats human capital as a consumable resource. When we become vulnerable at work, we tend to feel anxious and uneasy with those we work with, concerned about what others will do with our newly exposed vulnerability. However, once leaders identify team members’ fears, stressors, and barriers, they can begin to lessen the impacts of those factors in the workplace, setting the foundation for a relationship built on trust.
While leading a team several years ago, I started a tradition of sharing failures each Friday before we ended the week. Initially, this started as a personal growth and accountability exercise. I sought to find positives in my weekly struggles as a developing leader. I would sit down with a few of my team members and share what I had hoped to achieve that week, where I had failed, and what I had learned. During the first several weeks of doing this, my team was pretty quiet and just shook their heads, passively agreeing with me. But, they started to open up about the third or fourth week of me sharing my failures. They provided me some insights into why they thought I didn’t achieve what I wanted and also shared perspectives on whether my “failures” were failures or if I was not seeing the results yet. These trust team members also started to share their failures from the week. We quickly realized that by growing through failure together, we strengthened our professional relationships and became more successful.
Everyone Sweeps
“Never be too big to do the small things that need to be done.” – Legacy
Never be too proud to do the “Little things.” Fill in the gaps within your team when they need you. I like to use the Jewish Proverb “I ask not for a lighter burden, but broader shoulders” when mentoring my subordinate leaders. For me, this relates directly to leadership; good leaders don’t become leaders to lessen their own load but rather to assist others in carrying their loads. Leaders who voluntarily contribute back to the team earn trust significantly faster than those that sit around and watch the team struggle through challenges.
Join us throughout January and February as we explore various topics related to cultivating positive culture within your organization.
We hope you will join us on this journey as dive into:
- Defining Organizational Culture
- Signs of Poor Conflict Management Within Organizations
- Fostering Professional Relationships
- Overcoming Toxic “No” Culture
- Overcoming Toxic Leadership
- Designing Effective Communication Networks
- Building Winning Teams
Click here to get a free copy of our Building Organizational Culture Cheat Sheet.
Join us on Facebook and LinkedIn to continue the conversation.
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