Trust is one of the pillars of successful business and the cornerstone of successful leadership. A leader who doesn’t have genuine trust in their team will compensate by using micromanagement. When a team is micromanaged they stop thinking for themselves. Over time this lack of trust makes it impossible to build the next round of leaders for your organization.
A four step process to learn to trust your team’s abilities:
Assess – their behaviors and skills. Observation and listening are the two most important activities to do when assessing your team. While they carry out their tasks, observe and watch how they interact with others. Listen to how they provide status updates and ask for help. Take the time to talk to others who interact with your team to get their feedback.
Equip – provide them with the tools that will fill in the gaps identified in the assessment you conducted. Ask permission to provide them feedback and then be candid in your delivery. This is NOT the time to bookend your critique with compliments. Include any technology tools that would help make it easier for them to do their job well.
Observe – take a giant step backwards and show them that you trust them. Observe how they implement the feedback and adopt any tools you provided. Consistency is key here.
Repeat – start from the start again. Assess how they are implementing the tools you have equipped them with. Equip them again by providing feedback, only this time bookend the critique with compliments on the areas they are doing well. Observe again and watch them soar with the new found confidence you have provided to them and see how bright they shine.
This process not only helps you learn to trust your team it also helps you assess who does and does not work. Serving your staff well as the leader requires you to be honest. Honesty must include whether or not someone is a good fit and if they aren’t a good fit you need to let them go sooner rather than later.
Remember that leadership isn’t about you, it is about them. Trust them to accomplish their results and objectives. Assess, equip, observe, repeat to learn to trust, instill confidence and help your team shine.
Last updated on March 9th, 2018 at 06:37 am
