LEADERS MUST CONFRONT THE TRUST FACTOR
Years ago, when I first started facilitating “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” workshop for Georgetown University, the parent company was called The Covey Leadership Center.
Stephen Covey started the company while he was a professor at Brigham Young University. Years later that company merged with Franklin, the maker of the world-famous planners, to become Franklin Covey.
In March of this year, Franklin Covey released a global report that said two-thirds of employees have low confidence in the quality of their leaders overall.
And only 42% of employees view their own leaders as trustworthy.
Further, some 62% of employees describe their leader’s management style as outdated.
Nearly four in 10 describe their work as transactional rather than collaborative.”
Think about those numbers. Less than half of all those employees surveyed trust their own leaders on a daily basis. And six out of 10 think their manager’s leadership style is out of date.
Trust in leadership used to be assumed, but in this social media and digital age, that is not true any more.
Now, the report maintains, trust must be earned and leaders will need to first prove they can be trusted before they can expect anyone to have confidence in their decisions and abilities.
In an article citing the Franklin Covey report, the author reminded readers that with artificial intelligence now prevalent, employees may believe in AI‘s judgment more than the judgment of their own leaders, especially if they don’t possess trust in those leaders to begin with.
Think about the ramifications of that statement! Think about what that connotes for the future of genuine and meaningful leadership in the workplace. Will the next generation of employees go first to AI rather than their own manager and leader?
As the Franklin Cove report states: “When teams are surrounded by challenge, trust makes all the difference, earning commitment amid uncertainty.”
“In high trust cultures, people move quickly, collaborate openly, and adapt with confidence. A leader‘s ability to engender trust in these fragile moments, can determine whether disruption fractures performance or fuels it.”
This report identifies several things that great leaders do. Look at this list and look in the mirror. How many of these things do YOU do as a leader?
-To achieve extraordinary performance, great leaders, build high trust cultures and unlock the intrinsic motivation and talents of their teams.
-They know that striving for high trust does not mean lowering standards.
-They combine genuine care with high expectations, supporting people while inspiring them to rise to the occasion.
-Most importantly, they embody and model, trust themselves, by being both trustworthy and trusting.
-They lead with character and confidence. They confront reality, talk truthfully, and extend trust to others.
-They know behaviors like these send a powerful signal to the members of their team. You can trust me and I trust you.”
Trust may be an overused word in the workplace. When words – even meaningful words – are overused, they sometimes lose their power and significance.
Please never allow the word “trust” to lose its value and meaning in your workplace. It is the underpinning of all effective and thriving organizations.
Leaders like you can serve as wonderful role models for earning trust and promoting trustworthiness throughout the culture, from the top of your department or organization on down!
If you believe this content would resonate with a friend or colleague, please feel free to forward it along!
-Larry