I’ve been serving as the Integrator at EOS Worldwide since 2016, finding talented people and guiding them to reach their maximum potential.
It’s the rare leader who doesn’t want to grow a company. Unfortunately, it’s also the rare company that actually grows. McKinsey put a spotlight on this phenomenon not long ago, showing that only about one in eight organizations achieved more than 10% growth between 2010 and 2019. Approximately one-quarter saw no growth at all. And I think one of the biggest reasons for this may be a lack of trust.
Only 22% of people have strong trust in their organizations’ leaders, according to a Gallup study. (For context, that’s two percentage points lower than when Gallup asked workers the same question in 2019.) This is a huge problem. When employees don’t trust leadership, they won’t willingly embrace the transformations necessary to power the company’s growth. Instead, they’ll become cynical or even fearful.
As fear grows, it creates cracks in the foundation of the organizational culture. Unless leaders work hard to repair those fissures, they’ll never be able to scale up operations effectively. However, if they put the following trust-building strategies into play, they’ll position their teams to achieve great things together.
1. Add deposits to a “trust piggy bank.”
Leaders can’t assume they’ll be trusted based on their titles or authority alone. Trust is most often earned through being authentic and consistently keeping promises and commitments.
When I took on my role as integrator seven years ago, I had some big shoes to fill. My predecessor was loved and adored by our team and community of business coaches. He was someone known to keep his word and offered care and wisdom rarely matched in the business world today. Even though he participated in the selection process for my position, very few team members trusted or respected me at first. I understandably had to prove myself to them by stating what I believed in and standing by to serve the greater good of the organization.
Every time a leader does something trustworthy, the “trust deposit” acts as another positive layer to the way employees see that leader as someone whose word can be counted upon.
Some people trust and then verify. Others do the reverse and view trust as a process, something gained over time when an expectation set is confirmed to be real and true. It’s best for leaders to more conservatively assume people fall into the latter group and spend their days living out genuine words, actions and behaviors that prove out over time. I’ve found people will follow leaders just about anywhere when this is their lived experience.
2. Start from a place of concern and care.
Employees know innately if a leader is or isn’t working in the best interests of the whole team. That doesn’t mean every person gets what they want. We aim to serve, not please, all of those in our care. Meeting the needs of individuals doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive to meeting the needs of the whole organization. They can co-exist through collaboration and creative problem-solving paired with empathy and servant leadership.
Not long ago, our company realized it was time to take our business model in a new direction. We anticipated this would mean a lot of upheaval and change management for many reasons, not the least of which involved the legal relationship or agreement we had with our members.
To proactively plan for and ensure the smoothest experience, we took a people-first approach and selected a curated group of key stakeholders to seek feedback and garner advocacy with the larger community toward a bigger, brighter future together. We explained the “why” behind the transition and let them express their concerns and fears so we could address them well.
By having open, honest, vulnerable conversations built around the concept of caring first about people and then about our business, we could identify potential roadblocks and obstacles to the path forward. We boiled those down into themes of issues, created a plan to address them and ended up with a transformative experience that worked for our people and organizational mission.
3. Put a premium on constant, forthright communication.
Frequently, leaders believe they should provide their teammates with as little information as possible to buffer them from the tough stuff. This only fuels fear. It’s better to speak from the heart and not hold back unless there’s a reason the information can’t be shared, such as privacy or confidentiality concerns.
Leaders can also fall into the trap of thinking that the first time something’s said should be the only time it needs to be said. Not true. People often need to hear the same message multiple times, in multiple ways, before they absorb and understand them. Then, they begin to synthesize—and that’s when individuals begin applying what the message means to them.
It may be hard work to continually reiterate a message, but it’s the most important and critical piece to channeling human energy. If the message isn’t something easy or simple, this rule becomes even more important. People don’t want sugarcoated information, either. They want leaders to hit issues directly and clearly, never sweeping problems under the rug that will inevitably come back later. When there’s bad news, it’s wisest to address it, ensure everyone understands it, and then talk about ways to grow from the situation.
Another way to keep communications flowing from leadership to other teams or stakeholders is through varied modes or resources. Videos with updates creating clarity and context for our employees and community members is one type of tool. Some people prefer digesting information in small, bite-sized chunks or on their own rather than during calls or group meetings.
With wisdom comes the mantra “go slow to go fast.” Taking time to authentically share—consistently, thoughtfully and frequently—encourages confidence between leaders and listeners over time.
Companies simply can’t scale and thrive without the support of their people. It’s people first, always. And what those people need to stay focused, less stressed and more excited about change is the cultural glue called trust.
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