Effective Manager and Leadership Qualities Build Trust

Trust is the essential element of any effective leadership style, producing particularly effective leadership in groups. Effective manager and leadership qualities are those that seek to build trust.

This is one of the important messages of the Stephen M.R. Covey 2006 book, The Speed of Trust, and it’s a critical message for leaders at all levels and in all organizations. Covey’s message speaks to anyone in a leadership position and, in fact, to all of us. We’re all in a position to influence other people at times.

Each person must work on building trust with themselves and within the one-to-one relationships around them. Only in beginning with the basics can trust be improved in wider organizational and societal circles.

Trust isn’t some impossible-to-define, esoteric concept. It’s more than a “soft skill.” It’s actually pretty easy to equate trust to money: when trust goes down, speed goes down and costs go up. When trust goes up, speed goes down and cost goes down. Always. [Always is a dangerous word, but Covey’s says he’s never observed an exception to this, nor have any of the thousands of people he has questioned.]

In an organization when high levels of trust are present, Covey says it’s like getting a dividend. The dividend comes from enhanced innovation, accelerated growth, better execution, reduced turnover and churn, and increased shareholder value. Conversely, a low trust environment is like paying a tax. The lower the level of trust, the higher the tax rate. This tax is reflected in things like redundancy, internal politics, disengagement, turnover, even sabotage and dishonesty.

The first step one must take when attempting to build trust is to develop self trust. If you don’t trust yourself, it’s time to get serious with yourself. If you consistently make promises to yourself or set goals and then you don’t keep them, you will be low in the area of self-trust. Building internal credibility and confidence is an essential step in personal development.

From improving trust of self, Covey identifies four additional layers of trust, moving out from self-trust in increasingly larger concentric circles: relationship trust, organizational trust, market trust, and the broadest of all, societal trust. It all begins with the individual.

At each of these five “layers” of trust, we can work on four primary factors or components of trust that will improve the level of trust and return a dividend to us and our organizations. These are the four factors which compose trust. With each factor is an example of how trust can be improved.

1) Integrity – good reputation; integrated; living your values

Improve trust by: Making commitments to yourself and keeping them. Start with something simple and small and keep adding to this. Do what you say you will.

2) Intention – what’s really in your heart? Needs to be win-win motives

Improve trust by: Examining and refining your motives by asking a series of five “why’s” to dig deeply How can you make your win into a win for the other person? How can you let them know that it will benefit you both? Work on convincing yourself that it’s in your best interest to help the other person win; if not, you are being insincere and manipulative. Others see through that quickly.

3) Capabilities – talents, knowledge, skills, attitude, style

Improve trust by: Focusing on your strengths and keeping yourself relevant. Working from a place of strength increases your confidence and your impact. Be open to feedback and suggestions for improvement.

4) Results – from past performance. What results are you getting and how?

Improve trust by: Taking responsibility for your results, not just your actions. Doing whatever it takes (ethically and legally) to achieve results. Begin small if necessary; be reliable and accountable. People can’t trust you if they can’t rely on you.

The same rating-scale checklist can be used to rate one’s organization. A group of leaders in an organization can use the checklist to rate organizational strengths and challenges in the area of trust. A frank discussion of these results will point to some areas of improvement.

Covey’s book has multiple chapters covering all aspects of trust in which organizations, relationships, and organizations can be lacking. He proposes multiple, often simple, actions one can take to move ahead in each particular area of trust.

Are you convinced that improving trust will positively impact your achievement of results and your bottom line? Read this book! Take the actions recommended! It will improve both your personal life and your work life. And higher levels of trust spill over and make the world a better place for all of us.

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