There is far too little trust in the workplace. We can speculate
on the structural reasons for this mistrust:
All the speculation in the world, however, doesn’t help the young
manager who desperately needs guidance and leadership, but knows not
where to turn. Somehow leaders need to rise above the political
nonsense and become beacons that our people can count on. The
foundation of trust is simple to understand, yet difficult to
exemplify. Trust has two foundational pieces, character and competence.
Without both, our people will not trust us. The naive may think that
character is more important than competence. I suggest that either
without the other is a recipe for mistrust and long-term disaster.
So how then does one demonstrate character? In these days of
corporate politics run a muck, it is not easy to stay above the fray.
My suggestions may seem simple, but they are effective.
1. Avoid gossip. You are better off not knowing, and certainly not spreading it.
2. Don’t lie. Keep on the positive side of the truth. This means
that you may occasionally not share the whole truth, because it may not
be constructive.
3. Be constructive. It’s easy to rip ideas apart; far more challenging to constructively critique and build upon them.
4. When it comes to your people’s work, you must take all the
responsibility for any problems and give away all the credit for
successes. I know, you’re outraged with me on this one. I’m suggesting
that you put your career on the line to protect your people and then
give them the credit for work that you directed them to do in the first
place. That’s right, and the long-term effect of this is profound.
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Your people will owe you big time.
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You will gain a reputation as a manager that people want to report to.
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You will start and perpetuate a virtuous circle of trust within your team.
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Management will eventually figure it out and see that you are indeed a real leader and developer of people.
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You will have self-respect and confidence.
I have often been quoted as saying that, “Competence is simply the
ante to play the game of business.” Unfortunately, it is no longer
something that can be taken for granted. We run across professionals
who are largely incompetent for the job at hand far too often. At best,
it leads to a staff that figures the manager means well, but is so
incompetent that he or she cannot be trusted with even simple
management tasks. Call them the the ‘empty suits’ or whatever you
choose. Competence is absolutely necessary to create an atmosphere of
trust among colleagues. If you feel that you are pretending to be
competent and feel that you are in over your head, by all means get
help! If you feel it, there’s a good chance that others see it, and you
will create an environment of distrust and probably high turnover all
around you. The best intentions in incompetent hands are a recipe for
failure. You and your people deserve better.
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