The Trustworthy Leader
Here’s a thought
Police, press, bankers, politicians and energy companies – trust has been [The] news recently.
Trust is central to my work – I help leaders build collaborative teams so they can effectively deliver their business results. Collaboration relies on trust so I study it to bring insights, different perspectives and challenge for my clients.
There is a great TED Talk: “What we don’t understand about trust” by Baroness Onora O’Neill, here is my brief summary:
The standard view of trust involves a claim, an aim and a task. The claim is ‘there has been a great decline in trust’. The opinion polls suggest there has been no significant change in perceived trust over recent decades. Can we rely on opinion polls? The reality is there probably has been a decline in some areas and growth in others. When asked do you trust someone, the intelligent answer is ‘to do what?’
The aim is ‘we should have more trust’. To have more trust is a stupid aim. We might give more trust to the trustworthy though no trust to the untrustworthy. Intelligently placed trust and intelligently refused trust is the proper aim.
The task is ‘we should rebuild trust’. Rebuilding trust gets things backwards. Trust is given by another person, you can’t rebuild what someone else gives you. You have to provide the basis for them to give you trust, you have to be trust-worthy. To be trustworthy we need to be competent, honest and reliable.
Trust is the response to trustworthiness. It is trustworthiness that we have to judge. So we need to think less about trust and much more about being trustworthy. How do you provide adequate and simple evidence to prove you are trustworthy? Lots of systems have been put in place and have grown to provide this evidence and many are now backfiring – it takes longer for an experienced midwife to do the paperwork than it does to deliver the baby!
Suggestion – make yourself vulnerable to the other party, this provides good evidence that you are trustworthy and you are confident in what you are doing.
To watch the talk (9 minutes long) go to:
What we don’t understand about trust – Baroness Onora O’Neill
If you are interested in the ‘people’ side of your business, the so called ‘soft issues’, then you will find our book 21st Century People Leadership useful. If you would like a copy please send your details to tracey@dsabuilding.co.uk and we will send to you by post, free.
The next edition of ‘The Leader’ will be with you on Tuesday 3rd December 2013.