Building Trust
By Michael Wilkinson, CMF
Managing Director, Leadership Strategies, Inc.
Your employees want more freedom and autonomy. But if you give up control you might not get the results you desire. How can you build the trust you need to empower your team? Understanding the different dimensions of trust is the key to building trusting relationships with your colleagues, clients and employees. Unfortunately, you can't just go to your employees and say, "We need to develop trust – you start!" Building trust can be difficult with some people. With others, it happens almost naturally and you quickly develop faith in their abilities to make things happen and to deliver what you desire. By understanding the different dimensions of trust – we call them the Four Cs of trust – you can focus on filling the gaps that lead to a lack of trust in the first place.
The first "C" is Caring. Each of us likely has met people with whom we immediately feel comfortable. They seem to care about us, and will demonstrate that caring by showing us that they will take our concerns into consideration. It is difficult to trust someone whom we believe does not take our best interests to heart. The key to caring in business relationships is to ask your people to demonstrate to you that they understand your concerns and will ensure your concerns are satisfied.
The second "C" is Competence. When you trust your employees, you believe they have the competence needed for success. You feel confident that they have the skills and abilities to get the job done. Some people demonstrate competence through their past experience and decision-making. Others are able to instill a feeling of competence through their ideas and actions. Believing that someone has the skills and ability to get the job done creates and builds trust.
Commitment is the third "C". When you trust someone, you believe they are committed to achieving the objective. When someone is committed, you know that they will do everything in their power to get the job done. They will not be distracted by other agendas or other concerns. They arrive on time, return phone calls and emails immediately, and they do what they say they will do. You trust people who are committed because you know that they will make every effort to follow through.
The fourth "C" is Communication. It is easier to place your trust in someone who communicates in a style that you understand and with which you are comfortable. You feel they understand you and respond to you in a way that meets your needs. It is nearly impossible to build trust when you don't feel confident that you have been heard and understood.
When leaders don't have the confidence that their concerns will be respected, or don't feel that they have been heard, or don't believe their employees have the competence or commitment to get the job done, they typically will insist on a greater level of involvement and oversight. Their subordinates, however, often experience this as micro-management and lack of trust. And indeed, that may be exactly what it is! Yet the answer is NOT to immediately give up control or to suddenly start behaving as if you trust everyone. This behavior can result in a self-fulfilling prophecy in which the subordinates, given increased autonomy, demonstrate to you that indeed they should not be trusted.
We recommend a different approach. When you feel uncomfortable giving your employees the autonomy and authority they desire, recognize that you may be experiencing a trust issue. The first step in overcoming this issue is to determine which "C" is causing the problem. Is it that you don't believe the person has the necessary skills (competence)? Or perhaps the person isn't committed to doing what it takes to get the job done? Is it that you are not comfortable that this person really hears your needs (communication)? Or is it that you believe they are more concerned about their views, rather than ensuring that your concerns are taken into account (caring)?
We recommend sitting down with the individual and describing the Four Cs. Focus specifically on the area of greatest concern to you. Then, together, define a course of action for addressing the issue and increasing your level of trust. If the issue is competence, you might include a series of classroom training experiences or on the job coaching to increase skills. If commitment is the problem, we suggest developing a description of desired behaviors that demonstrate commitment to your satisfaction. To address a caring issue, ask your subordinates to tell you what they believe your concerns are, explain why those concerns are valid for you, and detail the steps they will take to ensure your concerns are respected. For communication difficulties, it may be helpful to use a communication assessment instrument such as DISC to help you and your employees develop strategies for adapting your behaviors to communicate more effectively with each other.
Whatever course of action you choose, remember that trust is extremely difficult to gain and extremely easy to lose. It takes patience, commitment, and time. For more trust-building techniques and help with addressing other leadership issues, consider our course From Management to Leadership.
