Strategic Trust
“The glue that holds all relationships together—including the relationship between the leader and the led—is trust, and trust is based on integrity.”
In leadership, there are two words that we don’t commonly see mentioned together in conversation: strategic and trust. For Supervisors, this is an important connection to make. Being strategic means to be tactical, calculated, and deliberate. Exhibiting trust is having confidence, faith, and belief in another.
Strategically nurturing trust within your relationships is essential to achieving your fullest potential as a leader. When you deliberately work to build trust, you are laying the groundwork for open communication, mutual respect, and loyalty, all of which are critical for fostering a collaborative and innovative work environment.
By adopting the deliberate approach to trust-building that we explore in this session, you’ll inspire confidence among your team members, encouraging them to take risks, share ideas freely, and fully commit to the organization's vision and goals. With a strong foundation of trust, organizations are able to navigate change and adversity with agility. Team members are more likely to rally behind leaders they believe in, confident that decisions will be made with their best interests in mind. When you purposefully and strategically cultivate trust in each of your relationships, you’re enhancing collaboration and cohesion of your team, while simultaneously establishing a culture of integrity and ethics that infuses the entire organization, propelling it towards enduring growth and success.
Self-Assessment:
Strategic Trust
Please take a few moments to contemplate the following self-reflection questions. Where can you identify opportunities for personal growth in your leadership approach?
1. Do I make a strategic effort to create a high level of trust with all of my relationships?
2. Do I treat all team members and colleagues with respect, valuing their contributions and acknowledging their worth?
3. Do I consistently act in a manner that is predictable and reliable, allowing my team to know what to expect from me?
4. Do I communicate openly and transparently, sharing both the good and the bad news, and keeping my team informed of important developments?
5. Do my actions align with my words? Do I follow through on commitments and promises I make?
6. Am I willing to show vulnerability, admitting mistakes and uncertainties, thereby encouraging a culture where it's safe to take risks and learn from failure?
7. Am I fair and impartial in my decisions and actions, avoiding favoritism and ensuring everyone is given equal opportunities to succeed?
8. Do I maintain confidentiality, ensuring that sensitive information is protected and that my team feels safe sharing with me?
Remember, this self-assessment is just a starting point for understanding your knowledge of Strategic Trust as a leader. It's essential to reflect on your responses and actively work on areas where improvement is needed. Additionally, seeking feedback from others and working with your ECFL Leadership Coach can provide valuable insights into your strengths and weaknesses.
Strategic Trust involves establishing a framework of coordinated efforts to build, sustain, and enhance trust both within individual relationships and throughout your organization. Instances of strategic trust can frequently be observed in the natural world, which graciously provides us with a variety of examples. To kick off our exploration of Strategic Trust, let's delve into an illustrative story about a flock of geese.
“Trust sounds soft, but it may be one of the most important attributes that a leader can earn from others.”
Geese: Very Strategic Leaders
As you read through this story, we'll introduce the Trust Triangle, a key foundation for all healthy relationships, both personal and professional. We will explore the Trust Triangle in more detail when we DIVE IN to our exploration of Strategic Trust.
When observing a flock of geese flying in a V formation, each bird RESPECTS the wingspan of the other. As an individual bird flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the other birds following within the formation. The respect for distance among the geese allows for a 71% greater flying range for the team of birds over a bird flying alone.
After a goose leaves the formation, CONNECTION within the formation is lost. The goose that drops out suddenly feels drag and resistance, but once it rejoins the group, the lifting power of the entire formation rapidly recovers.
If the lead goose gets tired, it rotates to the back of the formation and another goose takes its place at the point position. Each goose has the opportunity to demonstrate its AUTHENTIC leadership skills (we’ll explain what this means shortly). The change in point position also allows each goose to change position in the V, solidifying their authentic leadership in each role.
You have most likely heard the sound of CONFLICT in a formation of geese. They honk to encourage one another, but also to sound the alarm when they sense a dangerous situation. Each honk is unique, and together, their calls of conflict protect the formation as they journey over thousands of miles.
When a goose gets sick or wounded and drops out of the formation, two other geese leave the formation as well to accompany it to the ground. They stay with the wounded goose until it recovers or dies. At that point, they will either catch up with the original flock or set out on their own to create a new formation. This is a wonderful example of the commitment and TRUST each bird has for the others.
What can we learn from these geese? Here are a few thoughts:
Thanks to their coordinated efforts, a flock of geese is strategic with their actions, highly efficient, and productive. They can fly at heights of over thirty thousand feet, travel over five thousand miles, and even cross the Himalayan Mountains. It is all based on, and because of, trust.
The cooperation of geese demonstrates two important principles: (1) Healthy, sustained relationships take work, and (2) the secret to healthy relationships is commitment—the choice to work and stay together. By adhering to these two basic rules of relationships, a simple flock of geese offers proof that powerful relationships and powerful teams produce powerful results. But we aren’t geese, so what can we do to achieve this kind of trust in our relationships?
As leaders, strategically cultivating and maintaining a high level of trust requires being intentional in your behavior towards others.
The importance of these actions has been categorized into what we call the Trust Triangle. In this model, respect forms the foundation of every relationship, while trust stands at the summit. Between these two crucial elements lie connection, authenticity, and conflict.
Keep in mind that Strategic Trust requires devising a thoughtful plan, ensuring consistency, and being deliberate in every interaction. By observing geese in their natural habitat, we’re able to see a living example of the steps of The Trust Triangle. This Triangle can be used as a tool to achieve strategic trust in your relationships by helping you guide your approach.
Let’s take a closer look at each level:
Respect
To begin, we need to remember that the first step in successfully engaging others is to respect them; recognizing the importance of respect is vital when cultivating trust, the cornerstone of every relationship. While it may seem that our relationships naturally begin from a place of trust, in reality, every relationship begins with a commitment to create and cultivate trust. After all, trust must be earned. Every relationship should begin with the fundamental decision: "I choose to respect you as a human being." It's from this foundation of respect that genuine connections can form and flourish.
Connection
After respect comes connection, which involves mastering the art of forging meaningful and distinct bonds with others. It entails empathizing with people and engaging with them in ways that enrich your impact and presence in their lives. To improve your capacity for effective connection, work on refining the skill by practicing these strategies with a variety of people across a variety of scenarios:
Focus on others
Be intentional about making time for others
Demonstrate empathy—acknowledge the other person’s feelings
Authentically listen and ask questions
Use non-verbal cues in conversation such as nodding your head and making eye contact
Find common ground and acknowledge people’s interests
Authenticity
Following connection, we turn our attention to the next step of the Trust Triangle, authenticity. This is where individuals are encouraged to share their perspectives and express themselves authentically, forging relationships characterized by sincerity and an appropriate level of openness. For leaders, this translates to maintaining transparency, consistency, and authenticity in all forms of communication and actions.
Conflict
Operating from a foundation of respect, connection, and authenticity allows us to engage in healthy conflict. The ability to navigate disagreements is not a negative thing; it is a positive component of any team or relationship. It must occur if a team or a relationship is going to be healthy and successful.
Conflict provides an opportunity for us to express our emotions, understand various viewpoints, and foster a sense of responsibility and ownership. It opens us up to the opinions, thoughts, and ideas of others that we might not have considered. In a team setting, conflict encourages diversity, sparks innovation, and enhances effectiveness and efficiency.
Remember :
A team that avoids healthy conflict is a team lacking in trust. Similarly, a relationship that shies away from healthy conflict is one where trust has not been established. Engaging in healthy conflict paves the way for building trust, which is the ultimate aim of every relationship.
Developing Strategic Trust as a Supervisor involves a multifaceted approach that centers on transparency, consistency, and fostering a culture of mutual respect and accountability.
“Trust is earned in the smallest of moments. It is earned not through heroic deeds, or even highly visible actions, but through paying attention, listening, and gestures of genuine care and connection.”
Here are some best practices you can use:
Lead by Example. Demonstrate trustworthiness through your actions. Be transparent in decision-making processes, consistent in your behavior, and accountable for your actions. Your team will mirror these behaviors, facilitating a culture of trust.
Promote Open Communication. Establish clear and open lines of communication. Encourage feedback and actively listen to your team members. Ensure that communication is two-way and that team members feel heard and valued.
Empower Your Team. Show trust in your team's abilities by delegating tasks and responsibilities. Empowerment not only boosts morale but also encourages ownership, which is critical in building trust.
Acknowledge and Reward. Recognize and reward trust-building behaviors within the organization. Acknowledging acts of integrity, transparency, and collaboration reinforces their importance.
Maintain Consistent Values. Ensure that the organization's values are clear, and that they are reflected in every aspect of its operations. Consistency in values and actions reassures team members and strengthens trust.
Build Personal Relationships. Take the time to build personal relationships with team members. Understanding their aspirations, challenges, and perspectives can create a stronger, more trustful connection.
Encourage Healthy Conflict. Foster an environment where constructive conflict is encouraged and seen as an opportunity for growth and innovation. It's important that team members feel safe to express differing opinions.
Be Transparent in Both Success and Failure. Be open about both wins and losses. Sharing lessons learned from failures can be particularly powerful in building trust, as it demonstrates humility and a willingness to learn.
Give Consistent Feedback. Provide regular, constructive feedback. Consistent feedback helps to manage expectations and guide improvement, which is essential for maintaining trust.
By integrating these practices into your leadership approach, you can develop and maintain Strategic Trust at the Supervisor level, leading to a more cohesive, motivated, and effective organization.
Elevate your understanding of Strategic Trust by taking flight with the following resources. Use this opportunity to navigate, uncover, and expand the horizons of your leadership influence.
Respect: Respect is the starting point for trust. Here are two articles article summarizing many of the behaviors needed to exhibit respect in a relationship: The 20 People Skills You Need To Succeed At Work (Jacquelyn Smith) & 7 Key Habits For Building Better Relationships (Harvey Deutschendorf)
Connection: Can connection with others in the workplace be a predictor of good health? Yes, it can! Building connections with your team does not have to be rocket science, it can be done with some simple steps: How to Build Workplace Connections That Help Us Succeed
Authenticity: Authentic leadership can be summarized by two powerful words: The Essence of Authentic Leadership (Sean Georges, TEDx, 18:57)
Conflict: Do you view your professional relationships on the basis of what you can give to others or what you can take from them? Adam Grant discusses givers, takers, and matchers in this popular Ted Talk: Are you a Giver or a Taker? (13:18)
Trust: If we consider building trust in a large organization from a 30,000 foot perspective, it might look very similar to these ten suggestions made by Liz Ryan in, Ten Ways to Build Trust on Your Team & Patrick Lencioni in The Importance of Trust (5:36)