Brought to you by Jeff Thoren, DVM, ACC  

Almost everywhere we turn, trust is on the decline. Trust in our culture at large, in our institutions, and in our companies is significantly lower than a generation ago. “Trust makes the world go ‘round,” and right now we’re experiencing a crisis of trust. So just how do leaders go about building organizational trust?

The best leaders recognize that trust impacts us 24/7, 365 days a year. It undergirds and affects the quality of every relationship, every communication, every work project, every business venture, every effort in which we are engaged. It changes the quality of every present moment and alters the trajectory and outcome of every future moment of our lives - both personally and professionally.

Here’s this month’s feature ...

How the Best Leaders Build Trust by Stephen M. R. Covey

From The Linkage Leader – Linkage, Inc., 2009

Highlights from the article:

• When trust is low, in a company or in a relationship, it places a hidden “tax” on every transaction: every communication, every interaction, every strategy, every decision is taxed, bringing speed down and sending costs up. Covey’s experience is that significant distrust doubles the cost of doing business and triples the time it takes to get things done.
    

• By contrast, individuals and organizations that have earned and operate with high trust experience the opposite of a tax – a “dividend” that is like a performance multiplier, enabling them to succeed in their communications, interactions, and decisions, and to move with incredible speed. In one recent study, high trust companies outperformed low trust companies by nearly 300%!
    

• The first job of any leader is to inspire trust. Trust is confidence born of two dimensions: character and competence. Character includes your integrity, motive, and intent with people. Competence includes your capabilities, skills, results, and track record. Both dimensions are vital. You might think a person is sincere, even honest, but you won’t trust that person fully if he or she doesn’t get results (competence). And the opposite is true. A person might have great skills and talents and a good track record, but if he or she is not honest (character), you’re not going to trust that person either.
    

• The best leaders focus on making the creation of trust an explicit objective. It must become like any other goal that is focused on, measured, and improved. It must be communicated that trust matters to management and leadership. It must be expressed that it is the right thing to do and it is the economic thing to do. One of the best ways to do this is to make an initial baseline measurement of organizational trust and then to track improvements over time.
    

• The foundation of trust is your own credibility, and it can be a real differentiator for any leader. When a leader’s credibility and reputation are high, it enables them to establish trust fast – speed goes up, cost goes down.

  
For the full text article, go to ...
http://www.linkageinc.com/thinking/linkageleader/Documents/
Stephen_Covey_How_the_Best_Leaders_Build_Trust.pdf

   
13 Behaviors of High-Trust Leaders

Covey has identified 13 common behaviors of trusted leaders around the world that build – and allow you to maintain – trust.

1. Talk Straight

2. Demonstrate Respect

3. Create Transparency

4. Right Wrongs

5. Show Loyalty

6. Deliver Results

7. Get Better

8. Confront Reality

9. Clarify Expectation

10. Practice Accountability

11. Listen First

12. Keep Commitments

13. Extend Trust

The 13 Behaviors always need to be balanced by each other (e.g., Talk Straight needs to be balanced by Demonstrate Respect) and that any behavior pushed to the extreme can become a weakness.

The job of a leader is to go first, to extend trust first. Not a blind trust without expectations and accountability, but rather a “smart trust” with clear expectations and strong accountability built into the process. The best leaders always lead out with a decided propensity to trust, as opposed to a propensity not to trust.

 
Next Month

Many businesses and individuals have been negatively impacted by our sputtering economy. But how is it that some companies seem to be dealing with this current adversity better than others?  What’s their secret?  We’ll find out next month when we review five simple principles for success used by strong servant leaders.

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