Leadership thrives on TRUST
Well, before I dive deeper. Let me clarify the words. When I say leadership, I'm simply talking about being a manager in a corporate setup and be able to lead your people. To get them to follow you and do the work you ask them to do. Okay, so you might be thinking, what is the secret sauce that makes a team work cohesively and stay motivated? And that too during such troubled times.
I'll tell you, the only thing that matters is TRUST. Nothing else!
I'm new to leadership myself but I am working on improving my people skills all the time. Working with diverse teams and some of my awesome previous managers, I gained some useful insights over the years. But I still found myself struggling. So I had to do some more reading and research and talk to more managers. These insights started to take shape last year when I started taking stock of my management style.
There is no particular style of leadership I follow. But there are a few things I do try to follow with every direct report of mine. To make an effort to come across as someone who is honest and caring. I try to be authentic. And sometimes I let them know I am vulnerable too. I don't have all the answers always and I don't pretend to have either. I try to ensure my direct reports trust me. It's not easy. And it takes time and patience.
TRUST IS THE MOST IMPORTANT INGREDIENT “You must trust people, or life becomes impossible,” the writer Anton Chekhov once said. This is true of all relationships—friendships, marriages, partnerships—and the manager–report relationship is no different. Sounds obvious, right? But it is easier said than done, especially when you’re the one holding more of the chips at the table. No matter how you slice it, you are your reports’ boss. You have more impact on their day-to-day than they have on yours. This means that the responsibility of building a trusting relationship lies more with you than with them. You can avoid being blindsided by developing a relationship founded on trust, in which your reports feel that they can be completely honest with you because they have no doubt that you truly care about them. You’ve accomplished this if the following three statements are true.
My reports regularly bring their biggest challenges to my attention. A hallmark of a trusting relationship is that people feel they can share their mistakes, challenges, and fears with you. If they’re struggling through an assignment, they tell you right away so you can work through it together. If they’re having issues collaborating with somebody, you hear it first from them and not through the grapevine. If something’s keeping them up at night, they tell you what it is.
My report and I regularly give each other critical feedback and it isn’t taken personally. If your report does work that you don’t think is great, are you comfortable saying that directly? Similarly, would your report tell you if he thinks you’ve made a mistake?
My reports would gladly work for me again. One of the truest indicators of the strength of your relationships is whether your reports would want you as their manager in the future if they were given the choice.
I have been trying to work on first two statements for one whole year now. And I feel it has largely paid off, in some sense. Still working on the third. I can't say this is the absolute formula. People will still be disappointed with you, remain unmotivated or quit. But the more you practice above and stay honest about it, the more you can keep your people motivated and to some sense respected. This is all what the world needs right now.
