Defining Trust Leadership for Today’s Workplace
by Alice P. Stapleton, MSL
There’s a new expectation taking root in the workplaces of America; a workplace value that is no longer optional for those businesses wishing to attract the best talent. This movement isn’t confined to one industry or job type. It isn’t blue collar or white collar; it isn’t just for small business or international conglomerates. It isn’t about salary or hourly pay, and doesn’t require fringe benefits or vacation time. It applies to every person who goes to work each day (or night) in America and around the world. It was widely overlooked during the majority of the twentieth century – when the leadership v. management dichotomy wasn’t discussed as fervently as it is today. In the twenty-first century, workers are demanding – and rightfully so – that their leaders exemplify this value.
Employees engage best, and perform at higher levels, in workplace environments built on trust.
Of course, I’m talking about trust.
To be clear, I’m not talking about the kind of trust that is hierarchically bestowed upon the worker by the supervisor. Nor is it the sort of trust one builds over time with a good friend, or newly acquired family member. The kind of trust I’m referring to is the immediate kind; trust that should be understood and afforded to each and every person you hire or manage from the outset. When you choose an applicant for a job, you are signaling that you are prepared to lead and nurture that employee with one thing in mind: his or her success. For an employee to thrive, his leader must act as his champion, and the first tenant of a boss who champions his team, is the desire to lead with trust.
Trustworthy leadership is the foundation of a strong team. When leaders act on trust, their employees are happier and feel secure in their jobs. The outcomes are energy, productivity, sustainability, and growth.
The Great Place to Work Institute has documented that committed and engaged employees who trust their managers are 20% more productive and 87% less likely to seek out new employment than those workers who lack trust in leadership. Those are pretty compelling numbers that should, when coupled with data showing that 70% of employees who are unhappy at work attribute their dissatisfaction to a poor relationship with their supervisor, encourage all managers to discover the benefits of cultivating a safe and trusting workplace.
Is your team confident, or do they feel as if they’re rolling the dice when you say, “Trust me?”
Dynamic Sales Solutions is excited to focus our first multi-part blog, which we hope will give our clients and others fresh insight into leading with trust and integrity. Over the next several weeks we’ll bring you a five-part series: Trustworthy Leadership. Next week’s article will discuss the Trust Tetralogy: The 4 Traits of a Trust Leader. Later, the focus will turn to Trust Take-Downs and Trust Builders – actions that are certain to erode workplace relationships, and tangible practices that destroy impediments to trustworthy leadership, and how to work through the affects of broken trust and unfulfilled promises on both your part as the leader, and that of your team members. Finally, molding the mindfulness of trust leadership that the Trust Builders introduce, we’ll deep dive into the Trust BHAGs (If you don’t know what that acronym stands for – don’t worry, you will soon enough!) that can take your team to the next level.
The takeaway from today? Simple. Trust starts with you, the leader. Ask yourself if you are a leader your teammates, employees, and clients can turn to, believe in, and follow. Then come back for Part II.
Want to learn more about trustworthy leadership in a client-centric environment? Contact DSS today. We want to work with your team!