Be a Genuine Leader to Win Trust

Bangalore: Leadership is not all about having and articulating a vision, passionately owing it and driving it into completion. It is also about communicating one’s thought into others so that others tend to follow. But to communicate well and impact others, one need-not to be in the leadership’s shoes, reports Steve Watkins from News.investors.com.

“Your sphere of influence plays a bigger role than your title in how much sway you hold over people”, says Nan Russell, Author of “The Titleless Leader”, as quoted by Investors.com. Being genuine and winning trust is a sure way to gain influence.

1. Give It Away
An old rule “In order to get trust, you must dish it out.” Russell says, “People think the opposite of trust is distrust. But the opposite is ‘control’. If you give people to make choice of how to do something, you win trust.” Let your team members run their idea on you. Then set an update meeting once a week, so that later on you can let them check-in only when they run into problems. You have to learn to trust others as well, to win it from them.

2. Move Past Stereotypes
Even if you are not in the leadership’s shoes, you can still influence others. Be confident and operate with integrity and communicate, says Russell. You must take various responsibilities in your field. Listen to others ideas as well, and be open to all your team mates. Make the work environment easier for others to work in your group. This is another way to ignite trust.

3 Reap the Rewards
When others realize that they can trust you, the work flow of your co-workers improves. Bette Price, president of Dallas-based leadership consultant Price Group says, “They'll do whatever they can to help you accomplish the result.” But if they don’t trust you, then the case will entirely be the opposite. May be you even make them work fully and profitably.

4. Hold Them Accountable
You must make sure that whatever your workers have promised you to do must complete it on time. If they breach your trust like showing up late for meetings, then lay consequences on them as well.

“If one person gets by with things nobody else does, it causes distrust and it's demoralizing to the entire department,” says Price.

5. Be Genuine
One of the prime factors is to be genuine and transparent. If you have a rough word with your higher-ends, then let your fellow being know about your situation. They will appreciate your transparency. “When you bring that to work, it creates a trustworthiness that people can relate to,” Russell said, “It feels like you're dependable”, as quoted by News.investors.com.

6 Admit Mistakes
It's hard for many folks to be publicly accountable for their own mistakes. If you err, admit that it was your fault. “That's such a powerful role, to acknowledge your mistake and help others to not have it happen to them,” Russell said.

“Trust is something they really expect,” adds Price. “If they feel the environment isn't trustworthy, they leave.” Thus trust is the main link between a leader and his successful apex.  “The glue that holds all relationships together, including the relationship between the leader and the led is trust, and trust is based on integrity,” says Brian Tracy.