By Building and sustaining a high level of trust is the sine qua non of leadership and teamwork. Without it, there is frustration, discouragement, disengagement. With it, even the sky isn’t the limit.
1. Trust is the glue for all relationships.
2. Trust is a reward that must be earned every day.
3. In order to be trusted, you must be trustworthy.
4. When evaluating your own trustworthiness, your opinion is interesting, but not sufficient. Truth-tellers are vital for feedback.
5. The five interdependent pillars of trustworthiness (5C’s) are:
- Character: “Do you walk your talk?”
- Commitment: “Will you be there when times are tough and play to win?”
- Competence: “Are you skilled enough?” and “Are you relevant?”
- Connection: “Do they believe you understand them?”
- Communication: “Are you clear, concise, and direct? Was your message received?”
6. In all high performance teams, a High-Trust culture is a strategic imperative, both individually and collectively. Teams recruit for trustworthiness, they train to build it, they hold each other accountable to build and sustain trust, they promote based on it, they recognize/reward trustworthiness … and will fire someone quickly if irreparably lost.
7. When trust goes up, so does engagement, speed, productivity, quality, creativity, innovation, morale, retention, and resilience … and costs go down.
8. Leaders are responsible for building a High-Trust culture. Everyone must be a leader in building their own trustworthiness and the team’s culture of trust.
9. You can’t lead anyone farther than you’ve led yourself.
The team is looking for the leader to go first, to set the example. They are watching closely.
10. There is a power of attraction to High-Trust Leaders and Teams.
- If you are considered very trustworthy, everyone wants you on their team. They want you to help seize the opportunity or resolve the crisis.
- And when you are given an important mission as a High-Trust Leader, everyone wants to be on your team. They want to do great things being led by someone they trust.
11. No matter how good your team is, it can always get better by deepening the level of trust. Getting to the next level of success requires getting to the next level of trust and confidence. This work is never over.
Become a High-Trust Leader: do the work and reap the rewards of satisfaction, engagement, and significance.
