Trust is the foundation of leadership. Without it, every bold vision and every ambitious leader will hit an insurmountable wall. With it, leaders will go farther, move faster, and accomplish infinitely more. Having trust changes everything. Losing trust destroys everything you’ve worked so hard to build.
While trust is extraordinarily important, it’s also not easy to build. In fact, a quick trust-building recipe doesn’t exist. But there are practical steps you can take to accelerate the process forward and avoid common trust pitfalls. Where do you start? Consider these ten ways to increase trust.
1. Character: Cultivate a Life of Integrity
The foundation of increasing trust is to possess trustworthy character. Are you truthful, honest, humble, and full of integrity? Do you model the fruit of the Spirit, the heart of a servant, and a commitment to self-discipline? All of these qualities make up who you are as a person, and they provide a firm footing for enduring trust.Question: What character gaps are undermining my ability to build trust?
2. Competence: Develop Your Skills with Excellence
People need to trust not only who you are (character) but also your ability to deliver results. If people lack confidence in your ability, you might make a great friend, but they won’t follow you as a leader. Competence is all about developing the skills to do the job with the highest levels of excellence, which in turn gives people the confidence to follow your lead. Question: What competencies and skills do I need to grow so others will trust me more?
3. Compassion: Show Genuine Care for Others
You’ve heard it said a thousand times: people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. Compassion is all about heart-felt care and concern. When people feel noticed, appreciated, and cared for, they are much more willing to trust you. Why? Without compassion, the relationship feels cold and even callous. Question: How can you show genuine compassion to each member of your team?
4. Connection: Invest Time in Building Relationships
The deeper the relationship, the greater the trust. This is a simple principle, but it’s often overlooked because relationships take time to establish, grow, and mature. That’s why great leaders make room for connecting. They invest in relationships (inside and outside of work), which accelerates trust and respect. Question: How often does your team focus on relationship-building and having fun together?
5. Communication: Be Transparent and Authentic
When people feel like they’re in the dark, suspicion fills the mind and flows out of the mouth. But trust forms when we talk openly and frequently with the people we lead. Celebrate wins. Be honest about difficulties and hardships. Cast clear vision. Keep people in the know. These simple steps will build a culture of trust and snuff out suspicion before it has a chance to breathe. Question: What systems can you put in place to ensure communication is clear, frequent, and thorough.
6. Courage: Make the Hard Decisions
When team members see leaders make hard decisions, their respect inevitably grows. As one man said, “People follow courage.” People are more willing to trust a leader when they see the leader emboldened with courage to make tough calls that put the future in reach. Without courage, trust is slowly eroded by mediocrity and the turning of a blind eye. Question: What courageous decision have you been putting off?
7. Confess: Admit When You’re Wrong
To confess means to admit the truth. Unfortunately, many leaders can’t admit the truth that they’re wrong. Nobody is perfect, and the leader who can admit it will actually garner greater trust. It’s a beautiful expression of humility that lets your team know you’re in touch with reality. Question: In what area have you been wrong that you need to admit to your team? When will you do it?
8. Control: Manage Your Emotions
The word “control” sounds like a trust-busting word. But I’m not using control in relation to others, but in relation to our emotions. The leader with a short fuse, an unpredictable nature, or a tendency to take people on an emotional roller coaster will never build trust with others. You have to control your emotions so that people feel a sense of stability, normalcy, and maturity. Question: Which emotion most often gets the best of you? How can you take control of this emotion?
9. Credit: Share the Credit with Others
It’s disheartening when a leader takes the credit for the work done by somebody else. When people work hard, they want to be noticed and celebrated. Our job as leaders is to share the credit. Don’t spend all of your time looking in the mirror; instead, look out the window and point to the people who did the work. When you do, others will not only trust you more, but they’ll be more willing go the second mile. Question: Who do you need to recognize this week at work?
10. Consistency: Develop a Track Record of Trustworthiness
Anybody can do anything right…once. But leaders who build enduring trust are consistent day after day, week after week, year after year. While “consistency” sounds boring, it’s the quality that compounds success and delivers the greatest long-term outcomes. When you’re consistent with the nine ingredients above, trust has a way of catalyzing forward momentum. Question: In which trust-building strategy do you most need to be more consistent?
While trust takes time, these ten ideas will point you in the right direction, increase your speed, and help you avoid the common pitfalls that undermine trust in a leader and organization.
