June 28, 2024 • 24 mins
Ever wondered how to transform your team’s performance by simply building trust? This episode of the Operations Toolbox for Business Leaders offers invaluable insights into becoming the trusted leader your team needs. Learn the profound impact of authenticity, respect, and open communication, and how these elements can lead to a more innovative and productive work environment. We peel back the layers of leadership to expose the real consequences of a trust deficit, including misunderstandings, conflicts, and a toxic atmosphere, and provide practical strategies to overcome these challenges.
Join us as we share personal journeys and real-world examples that illuminate the importance of trust in leadership. Discover actionable tips, such as the significance of casual coffee chats and giving undivided attention during check-ins, to build stronger, more positive relationships with your team. By the end of this episode, you'll be equipped with the tools to boost employee engagement, satisfaction, and retention. Tune in to unlock the secrets of leading by example and fostering an environment where trust thrives and extraordinary results follow.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Have you ever been a part of a team and you just felt
like there was no trust, evenwhen it came to your leader?
You felt like you just couldn'ttrust them.
So you usually end up holdingback information or having these
feelings.
Well, we want to make sure, asa leader, that you're not doing
(00:22):
the same thing to your team, aleader that you're not doing the
same thing to your team.
Today's episode we're going tobe talking about building trust
as a new leader.
Welcome to the OperationsToolbox for Business Leaders,
your go-to podcast for practicaladvice, insights and tools to
help you lead your team tosuccess.
I'm your host, tanya D, andtoday we're diving into a
(00:47):
crucial topic for any new leaderbuilding trust within your team
.
Trust is the foundation of anysuccessful team.
Without it, collaborationbreaks down, innovation stalls
and morale is in the toilet.
As a new leader, establishingtrust can be.
(01:09):
It can be a challenge at times,but it's absolutely essential.
It is a must.
So let's explore why trust isimportant.
We're going to talk aboutmethods to build trust and how
trust impacts your overallteam's performance.
(01:30):
First things first theimportance of trust.
Trust isn't just a feel-goodconcept.
It's a vital component of howteams when team members trust
each other and their leader,they are more likely to
(01:51):
communicate openly, to shareideas and to support one another
.
Trust fosters a positive workenvironment where individuals
feel safe and seen and they'reable to take risks and make
mistakes and they know thattheir leader and team members or
(02:13):
teammates are going to havetheir backs.
Now, of course, a lack of trustdoes the exact opposite right.
So, on the other hand, it canlead to misunderstandings,
increased conflicts and a toxicwork environment.
I've been in a toxic workenvironment and that's
(02:35):
definitely not something we wantto create for our team.
You see, when people don't feelthat they can trust their
leader, they end up holding backinformation, they start to work
in silos, they get these littlegroups and they work outside of
the team, and then they becomedisengaged and unmotivated.
(02:56):
This has a direct impact on theproductivity and the overall
performance of the team andultimately, it impacts business
results.
So it is essential, as a leader, that you have trust within
(03:18):
your team.
Now, there's several differentways you can build trust right,
so we're going to talk aboutsome of the methods to build
trust.
I am going to talk about theones that I feel are
specifically the most importantones.
(03:40):
These are some of the methodsthat I have used in the past
when building teams or whencoming to a new team as a leader
, and these are some of the onesthat I use today within my
business, and it's also some ofthe ones that I train new
business leaders to develop.
(04:02):
So, now that we understand theimportance of trust, let's
discuss these practical methodsto build it.
Here are some strategies thatI've used.
The very first thing is to beauthentic.
It sounds easy it really doessound easy, but you'd be
surprised at how many leaderslead within authenticity.
(04:29):
You want to be yourself.
You want to be genuine.
You want to be transparent.
You want your team, your peers,everyone within your business
or organization to know whatthey're getting, no surprises.
So you share your values, youshare your vision, your goals
(04:52):
with your team right.
So you're opening up.
You let them see the real youso that they know that you're
not one way in one environmentand another way at another
environment.
They know what they're gettingall the time right.
So you're not just the leaderyou think they want to see.
(05:14):
This is who you are, and ifthere are some things about
yourself that you don't like,this is an opportunity to change
them that you don't like.
This is an opportunity tochange them.
Authenticity breeds trust,because it shows people that
you're not hiding anything, thatyou don't have anything to
conceal.
You are who you are.
(05:36):
What you see is what you get.
You talk to me on the phone,you talk to me face-to-face, you
talk to me one-on-one in agroup.
It doesn't matter.
I am who I am.
So that's number one Beauthentic, be yourself, bring
the real you to work everysingle day.
(06:01):
The second thing is show respect.
Now, this is huge.
Respect is huge.
It's definitely a two-waystreet.
Okay, as a leader, a lot oftimes, we want people to trust
us and to respect us, but wehave to extend the same thing.
There's a lot of talk aboutdifferent generations in the
(06:24):
workplace and how you managemillennials and how you manage
you know if you are a Gen X andyou know all of these things.
It boils down to trust andrespect.
You have to respect peopleregardless of their titles,
(06:47):
regardless of their age.
Respect is respect.
You want to treat your teammembers with respect by valuing
their opinions.
Everyone has something thatthey bring to the table.
That's why they are a part ofyour team, even if their opinion
(07:08):
is not your opinion.
You want to recognize theircontributions.
When they do something great,you want to say it right.
You want to acknowledge it.
You want to acknowledge it andthen you want to address their
concerns.
You can't be the type of leaderthat kind of just let things
(07:31):
fall to the wayside, thinking orhoping that they're going to
resolve themselves.
You have to hit it head on andyou have to address their
concerns.
When people feel respected,they are more likely to respect.
You value them and you respectthem.
(07:57):
The third, the third keystrategy, is communicate openly
and honestly.
So open and honestcommunication is a cornerstone
of trust.
Say what you mean, mean whatyou say.
Trust Say what you mean, meanwhat you say.
(08:18):
Keep your team informed aboutwhat's happening within the
organization, within yourbusiness, and be transparent
about challenges and decisions.
So one of the things that wesee a lot is that people hide
information or they coverinformation, and what starts to
happen is people don't trust you, right?
(08:39):
So if I'm hearing things thatare not coming from you now, I
feel like you're hiding things.
There's going to be times inbusiness, as a leader, that
there's things that you can'tshare and you have to be
forthcoming with that Right.
When the time is right, whenit's more appropriate, I'll
(09:02):
share the information, but inthe meantime, you're going to
share as much information aspossible.
So you want that communicationto be open and you want it to be
honest.
You want to encourage teammembers to voice their opinions
because you want them tocommunicate with you openly and
honestly.
So you want to hear theirconcerns, you want to hear their
(09:25):
opinions and you want to makesure that you are actively
listening when you do this, notassuming they're going to say
something, not thinking you knowwhat they're going to say, but
actively listening and hearingwhat it is that they are saying.
This is another thing thatfosters culture of openness and
(09:50):
mutual trust, right?
So what we're doing is we'retelling them that I value what
you say.
What you say is important to me, and not only that.
I am going to communicate withyou as straightforward, honest
and openly as possible.
(10:11):
That's number three.
Number four let's talk aboutrelationships, build
relationships.
I know, you know I rememberearly on in my career, one of
the biggest things was that youhad to be really careful about
what you share with people,especially within corporate, and
(10:33):
what I would say is share whatyou're comfortable sharing.
Don't force yourself to shareinformation, right?
So, as a leader, you don't haveto share all of your personal
information you don't but youwant to take the time to get to
know your team members on apersonal level, and what this
(10:53):
may look like is understandingtheir strengths, their
weaknesses and what motivatesthem.
Right, and you can share someof the things about you.
You can share your journey.
You know how you got to whereyou got to.
You want to build strongpersonal relationships, because
(11:14):
this helps to build a sense oftrust.
You want to have regularone-on-one meetings, right?
This is a great way to connectone-on-one, individually with
your team.
Every meeting shouldn't occurin a group setting, right, so
you can build relationships as ateam, but you want to have
(11:37):
one-on-one communication.
You want to have thoseone-on-one meetings where you
are able to build relationships.
There's going to be some thingsthat you may need to talk about
directly or individually thatwon't necessarily be shared
within a group.
You may have some people thatdon necessarily be shared within
a group.
You may have some people thatdon't like sharing in a group,
(11:58):
so you'll find that they don'thave a lot to say in those group
settings, but if you get theone-on-one, they'll have more to
say and you can start to buildthat relationship.
Again, this isn't trying tofind out about all of their dirt
and what's going on in theirlives, and you're going to have
people that are going to shareat that level and you're going
(12:21):
to have people that won't, andthat is totally fine.
But you do want to understand,kind of what makes them tick,
what makes them drive, what dothey like, what don't they like?
It could be something as simpleas how do they like to be
rewarded?
So when you are acknowledgingthem for their contributions,
(12:44):
you understand what makes themfeel good, how they like that to
happen.
So building relationships isnumber four.
So building relationships isnumber four.
The fifth thing and final thingthat I want to talk about during
this segment is lead by example.
Now, if you really want tobuild trust, it's about your
(13:05):
actions.
Trust is built through actions.
It's not just words, right?
So we can say, oh, I'm a goodleader, I'm a great leader, but
what do we exhibit?
We can say, oh, I'm a goodleader, I'm a great leader, but
what do we exhibit?
We can say, oh, trust us, butuntil you show them that you can
be trusted, you're not going tobe trusted.
So remember that it goes waybeyond words.
(13:26):
It's about the actions.
You want to demonstrateintegrity, accountability and
reliability in everything thatyou do.
You want to consistently showup in a way that builds trust,
in a way that's authentic andshows who you are.
(13:46):
If you make a mistake which youwill, because we're all human
own up to it and show how youplan to correct it.
Again, here we are talkingabout being honest, having
integrity.
That's a part of leading withexamples.
(14:07):
So that's a part of leading byexample.
One of the things I want toshare is that when I first
started in leadership, I thoughtI had to be perfect, right.
Like I got people that look upto me.
I can't be me, right.
(14:27):
I had to be this perfect person, you know, and the perfect
person does not exist.
And then you know I had thisthing about oh, if I make
mistakes, what are they going tothink about me?
They're going to think that Idon't know what I'm doing, and
part of that is because I was ayoung leader.
I was in my early twenties.
I had people that were doublemy age reporting to me.
(14:50):
And then, eventually, as I grewin leadership and I matured in
leadership, I had people thatwere younger than me, so I was
always conscious or cognizant ofwhat people would think, and
then eventually, I learned thatI'm just going to be me.
And when I just started showingup as my authentic self meaning
(15:12):
mistakes and all you know whatI mean and everything that is
when my team performance soared.
They were like.
They saw that I was human.
I made mistakes, just like theymade mistakes.
I owned up to those mistakesand we figured out how to move
(15:35):
on.
So you want to lead by example.
Your team will respect andtrust you more when they see you
living up to your values andexpectations.
So if you have a certain barfor your team, you need to be
walking that tightrope as well.
Now, trust is great, right, butlet's really talk about the
(16:17):
impact that trust has on teamperformance, because it is
amazing what can happen whenyour team trusts you.
So building trust isn't aboutcreating a pleasant work
environment.
Although it does create apleasant work environment, it
has tangible benefits for teamperformance.
When trust is present, teammembers are more willing to
collaborate, share knowledge andsupport each other.
(16:37):
This leads to higher levels ofinnovation and problem solving,
because people aren't afraid tospeak up and contribute.
They know that they're beingheard, they know that they're
going to be acknowledged.
Trust also enhances employeeengagement and satisfaction.
(16:59):
So when people feel trusted andtrust their leader, they're
more likely to be committed totheir work and motivated to
achieve their goals.
This results in increasedproductivity and lower turnover
rates, which is always a goodthing.
Also, trust improves conflictresolution.
(17:23):
So in high trust environments,team members are more likely to
address conflicts directly andconstructively rather than
letting the issues just fester.
And a lot of times they do iton their own, they don't even
need the leader.
So this leads to quickerresolutions and, you know, a
(17:45):
better workplace and a workenvironment.
So just by you building thattrust, just by you creating a
culture of trust, it does all ofthese things right.
So you are helping to build thefoundation and the culture of
the business and theorganization.
(18:06):
Your team is going to take holdof that and they will run with
it.
So let's bring these conceptsto life right.
So we talked about a couple ofthe different things, but let's
look at a few real worldexamples and additional tips.
How do you take the informationthat I've shared with you and
(18:26):
apply it today going forward inbusiness.
So the first thing when wetalked about authentic
leadership, right, considersharing more.
Now, I understand how this maysound.
I am an introvert, so when wetalk about sharing more, I'm
like, ah, but you want to sharethings that come natural to you,
(18:50):
that you can naturally share.
So some of the things that Iwould share is I would share.
Like I mentioned earlier, Iwould share my personal journey,
how I got to where it is that Igot to, because a lot of times
I had people on my team thatwanted to be in leadership at
some point in time.
I would talk to them about whatthat looked like, how I got to
(19:10):
where I got to.
I even share some of thechallenges you know that
occurred during this journey.
You know now I'm communicating,I'm being open, I'm being
honest.
They're starting to let theirguards down and feel that they
can trust me.
So you can talk about yourcareer path, challenges, lessons
(19:34):
that you've learned.
You know what I mean.
So now they see that you arebeing vulnerable and authentic,
which helps to build trust, andthen they start to open up,
right, when we're talking aboutrespect.
You know what I mean.
So think about ways that youcan show respect.
(19:57):
Another thing is, when someone'stalking, let them talk, you
know, especially if it is ontopic, if it is what you're
talking about Now.
Granted, if you're holding ameeting and they're discussing
something that's not related,you can ask them, you know, in a
nice way that's a little bitoff topic, let's put that in the
parking lot and if we have time, at the end we'll circle back
(20:21):
to it Then.
That way they know you heardthem.
They understand that it's notabout what you're talking about,
but that you will come back tothem and address whatever, um,
that con concern was or whateverit was that they were
discussing.
So you want to find ways tokind of play out how you can,
(20:42):
how you can do this right.
You know what I mean when we'retalking about building
relationships.
An example would be outside ofthe one-on-ones, where you are
talking about work, you couldhave something that I
implemented was coffee chats,right, so I would schedule.
I would schedule meetings withdifferent team members, you know
(21:06):
, first thing in the morningover my coffee, and we just have
a 10, 15 minute.
You know coffee chat where wejust talk.
It's just like a touch in, likea check-in how are you doing?
Is there anything that I canhelp you with?
You know what I mean.
If they had shared somethingwith me, you know, then I'd ask
how that's going.
(21:27):
You know, sometimes people withkids, they like to share things
about their kids or if they'regoing to school.
You know, you kind of justcheck in to see how things are
going and it's just reallycasual conversation, not
necessarily about work.
Sometimes it bleeds over intoyou know work.
They may be working on aproject hey, how's it going?
(21:49):
Is there anything that I canhelp you with those types of
things?
And that is buildingrelationships.
People know that you care.
Right, they're on the calendar.
This is their time.
I'm not on my phone doing thoseconversations.
I'm not, you know, checkingemail doing those conversations.
They have my undividedattention, which in this day and
(22:13):
age, is huge when you givesomebody that type of attention.
So those are just some waysthat you can put it into play
right now, because I want you totake this and actually use it
and let me know how it goesright.
So you know there's so manydifferent things that you can do
(22:34):
to implement this right nowwith your teams.
Just make sure you use it.
So that is it right.
So we've talked about buildingtrust within teams.
I've given you some.
You know why.
We've talked about why it'simportant.
We've talked about ways tobuild trust within your team,
(22:55):
the impact that trust has onteam performance, and then we
also talked about some thingsthat you can do, some real world
examples, some things that youcould do right now, today, to
implement this with your teams.
So that is it, and just inclosing, I'd like to say that
building trust as a new leaderis a journey and it takes time,
(23:17):
effort and consistency.
By being authentic, showingrespect, communicating openly
and honestly, buildingrelationships and leading by
examples, you can lay a strongfoundation of trust within your
team.
Remember, trust is the gluethat holds a team together and
it enables us to achieveextraordinary results.
(23:42):
So take the time to invest inbuilding trust and you'll see
the benefits reflected in yourteam's performance and in their
morale.
Thank you for tuning in to theoperations toolbox for business
leaders.
If you found this episodehelpful, please share it with
your network and subscribe toour podcast for insights and
(24:05):
practical advice.
Until next time.
I'm Tanya D and I wish yougreat success in your leadership
journey.
Have you ever been a part of a team and you just felt
like there was no trust, evenwhen it came to your leader?
You felt like you just couldn'ttrust them.
So you usually end up holdingback information or having these
feelings.
Well, we want to make sure, asa leader, that you're not doing
(00:22):
the same thing to your team, aleader that you're not doing the
same thing to your team.
Today's episode we're going tobe talking about building trust
as a new leader.
Welcome to the OperationsToolbox for Business Leaders,
your go-to podcast for practicaladvice, insights and tools to
help you lead your team tosuccess.
I'm your host, tanya D, andtoday we're diving into a
(00:47):
crucial topic for any new leaderbuilding trust within your team
.
Trust is the foundation of anysuccessful team.
Without it, collaborationbreaks down, innovation stalls
and morale is in the toilet.
As a new leader, establishingtrust can be.
(01:09):
It can be a challenge at times,but it's absolutely essential.
It is a must.
So let's explore why trust isimportant.
We're going to talk aboutmethods to build trust and how
trust impacts your overallteam's performance.
(01:30):
First things first theimportance of trust.
Trust isn't just a feel-goodconcept.
It's a vital component of howteams when team members trust
each other and their leader,they are more likely to
(01:51):
communicate openly, to shareideas and to support one another
.
Trust fosters a positive workenvironment where individuals
feel safe and seen and they'reable to take risks and make
mistakes and they know thattheir leader and team members or
(02:13):
teammates are going to havetheir backs.
Now, of course, a lack of trustdoes the exact opposite right.
So, on the other hand, it canlead to misunderstandings,
increased conflicts and a toxicwork environment.
I've been in a toxic workenvironment and that's
(02:35):
definitely not something we wantto create for our team.
You see, when people don't feelthat they can trust their
leader, they end up holding backinformation, they start to work
in silos, they get these littlegroups and they work outside of
the team, and then they becomedisengaged and unmotivated.
(02:56):
This has a direct impact on theproductivity and the overall
performance of the team andultimately, it impacts business
results.
So it is essential, as a leader, that you have trust within
(03:18):
your team.
Now, there's several differentways you can build trust right,
so we're going to talk aboutsome of the methods to build
trust.
I am going to talk about theones that I feel are
specifically the most importantones.
(03:40):
These are some of the methodsthat I have used in the past
when building teams or whencoming to a new team as a leader
, and these are some of the onesthat I use today within my
business, and it's also some ofthe ones that I train new
business leaders to develop.
(04:02):
So, now that we understand theimportance of trust, let's
discuss these practical methodsto build it.
Here are some strategies thatI've used.
The very first thing is to beauthentic.
It sounds easy it really doessound easy, but you'd be
surprised at how many leaderslead within authenticity.
(04:29):
You want to be yourself.
You want to be genuine.
You want to be transparent.
You want your team, your peers,everyone within your business
or organization to know whatthey're getting, no surprises.
So you share your values, youshare your vision, your goals
(04:52):
with your team right.
So you're opening up.
You let them see the real youso that they know that you're
not one way in one environmentand another way at another
environment.
They know what they're gettingall the time right.
So you're not just the leaderyou think they want to see.
(05:14):
This is who you are, and ifthere are some things about
yourself that you don't like,this is an opportunity to change
them that you don't like.
This is an opportunity tochange them.
Authenticity breeds trust,because it shows people that
you're not hiding anything, thatyou don't have anything to
conceal.
You are who you are.
(05:36):
What you see is what you get.
You talk to me on the phone,you talk to me face-to-face, you
talk to me one-on-one in agroup.
It doesn't matter.
I am who I am.
So that's number one Beauthentic, be yourself, bring
the real you to work everysingle day.
(06:01):
The second thing is show respect.
Now, this is huge.
Respect is huge.
It's definitely a two-waystreet.
Okay, as a leader, a lot oftimes, we want people to trust
us and to respect us, but wehave to extend the same thing.
There's a lot of talk aboutdifferent generations in the
(06:24):
workplace and how you managemillennials and how you manage
you know if you are a Gen X andyou know all of these things.
It boils down to trust andrespect.
You have to respect peopleregardless of their titles,
(06:47):
regardless of their age.
Respect is respect.
You want to treat your teammembers with respect by valuing
their opinions.
Everyone has something thatthey bring to the table.
That's why they are a part ofyour team, even if their opinion
(07:08):
is not your opinion.
You want to recognize theircontributions.
When they do something great,you want to say it right.
You want to acknowledge it.
You want to acknowledge it andthen you want to address their
concerns.
You can't be the type of leaderthat kind of just let things
(07:31):
fall to the wayside, thinking orhoping that they're going to
resolve themselves.
You have to hit it head on andyou have to address their
concerns.
When people feel respected,they are more likely to respect.
You value them and you respectthem.
(07:57):
The third, the third keystrategy, is communicate openly
and honestly.
So open and honestcommunication is a cornerstone
of trust.
Say what you mean, mean whatyou say.
Trust Say what you mean, meanwhat you say.
(08:18):
Keep your team informed aboutwhat's happening within the
organization, within yourbusiness, and be transparent
about challenges and decisions.
So one of the things that wesee a lot is that people hide
information or they coverinformation, and what starts to
happen is people don't trust you, right?
(08:39):
So if I'm hearing things thatare not coming from you now, I
feel like you're hiding things.
There's going to be times inbusiness, as a leader, that
there's things that you can'tshare and you have to be
forthcoming with that Right.
When the time is right, whenit's more appropriate, I'll
(09:02):
share the information, but inthe meantime, you're going to
share as much information aspossible.
So you want that communicationto be open and you want it to be
honest.
You want to encourage teammembers to voice their opinions
because you want them tocommunicate with you openly and
honestly.
So you want to hear theirconcerns, you want to hear their
(09:25):
opinions and you want to makesure that you are actively
listening when you do this, notassuming they're going to say
something, not thinking you knowwhat they're going to say, but
actively listening and hearingwhat it is that they are saying.
This is another thing thatfosters culture of openness and
(09:50):
mutual trust, right?
So what we're doing is we'retelling them that I value what
you say.
What you say is important to me, and not only that.
I am going to communicate withyou as straightforward, honest
and openly as possible.
(10:11):
That's number three.
Number four let's talk aboutrelationships, build
relationships.
I know, you know I rememberearly on in my career, one of
the biggest things was that youhad to be really careful about
what you share with people,especially within corporate, and
(10:33):
what I would say is share whatyou're comfortable sharing.
Don't force yourself to shareinformation, right?
So, as a leader, you don't haveto share all of your personal
information you don't but youwant to take the time to get to
know your team members on apersonal level, and what this
(10:53):
may look like is understandingtheir strengths, their
weaknesses and what motivatesthem.
Right, and you can share someof the things about you.
You can share your journey.
You know how you got to whereyou got to.
You want to build strongpersonal relationships, because
(11:14):
this helps to build a sense oftrust.
You want to have regularone-on-one meetings, right?
This is a great way to connectone-on-one, individually with
your team.
Every meeting shouldn't occurin a group setting, right, so
you can build relationships as ateam, but you want to have
(11:37):
one-on-one communication.
You want to have thoseone-on-one meetings where you
are able to build relationships.
There's going to be some thingsthat you may need to talk about
directly or individually thatwon't necessarily be shared
within a group.
You may have some people thatdon necessarily be shared within
a group.
You may have some people thatdon't like sharing in a group,
(11:58):
so you'll find that they don'thave a lot to say in those group
settings, but if you get theone-on-one, they'll have more to
say and you can start to buildthat relationship.
Again, this isn't trying tofind out about all of their dirt
and what's going on in theirlives, and you're going to have
people that are going to shareat that level and you're going
(12:21):
to have people that won't, andthat is totally fine.
But you do want to understand,kind of what makes them tick,
what makes them drive, what dothey like, what don't they like?
It could be something as simpleas how do they like to be
rewarded?
So when you are acknowledgingthem for their contributions,
(12:44):
you understand what makes themfeel good, how they like that to
happen.
So building relationships isnumber four.
So building relationships isnumber four.
The fifth thing and final thingthat I want to talk about during
this segment is lead by example.
Now, if you really want tobuild trust, it's about your
(13:05):
actions.
Trust is built through actions.
It's not just words, right?
So we can say, oh, I'm a goodleader, I'm a great leader, but
what do we exhibit?
We can say, oh, I'm a goodleader, I'm a great leader, but
what do we exhibit?
We can say, oh, trust us, butuntil you show them that you can
be trusted, you're not going tobe trusted.
So remember that it goes waybeyond words.
(13:26):
It's about the actions.
You want to demonstrateintegrity, accountability and
reliability in everything thatyou do.
You want to consistently showup in a way that builds trust,
in a way that's authentic andshows who you are.
(13:46):
If you make a mistake which youwill, because we're all human
own up to it and show how youplan to correct it.
Again, here we are talkingabout being honest, having
integrity.
That's a part of leading withexamples.
(14:07):
So that's a part of leading byexample.
One of the things I want toshare is that when I first
started in leadership, I thoughtI had to be perfect, right.
Like I got people that look upto me.
I can't be me, right.
(14:27):
I had to be this perfect person, you know, and the perfect
person does not exist.
And then you know I had thisthing about oh, if I make
mistakes, what are they going tothink about me?
They're going to think that Idon't know what I'm doing, and
part of that is because I was ayoung leader.
I was in my early twenties.
I had people that were doublemy age reporting to me.
(14:50):
And then, eventually, as I grewin leadership and I matured in
leadership, I had people thatwere younger than me, so I was
always conscious or cognizant ofwhat people would think, and
then eventually, I learned thatI'm just going to be me.
And when I just started showingup as my authentic self meaning
(15:12):
mistakes and all you know whatI mean and everything that is
when my team performance soared.
They were like.
They saw that I was human.
I made mistakes, just like theymade mistakes.
I owned up to those mistakesand we figured out how to move
(15:35):
on.
So you want to lead by example.
Your team will respect andtrust you more when they see you
living up to your values andexpectations.
So if you have a certain barfor your team, you need to be
walking that tightrope as well.
Now, trust is great, right, butlet's really talk about the
(16:17):
impact that trust has on teamperformance, because it is
amazing what can happen whenyour team trusts you.
So building trust isn't aboutcreating a pleasant work
environment.
Although it does create apleasant work environment, it
has tangible benefits for teamperformance.
When trust is present, teammembers are more willing to
collaborate, share knowledge andsupport each other.
(16:37):
This leads to higher levels ofinnovation and problem solving,
because people aren't afraid tospeak up and contribute.
They know that they're beingheard, they know that they're
going to be acknowledged.
Trust also enhances employeeengagement and satisfaction.
(16:59):
So when people feel trusted andtrust their leader, they're
more likely to be committed totheir work and motivated to
achieve their goals.
This results in increasedproductivity and lower turnover
rates, which is always a goodthing.
Also, trust improves conflictresolution.
(17:23):
So in high trust environments,team members are more likely to
address conflicts directly andconstructively rather than
letting the issues just fester.
And a lot of times they do iton their own, they don't even
need the leader.
So this leads to quickerresolutions and, you know, a
(17:45):
better workplace and a workenvironment.
So just by you building thattrust, just by you creating a
culture of trust, it does all ofthese things right.
So you are helping to build thefoundation and the culture of
the business and theorganization.
(18:06):
Your team is going to take holdof that and they will run with
it.
So let's bring these conceptsto life right.
So we talked about a couple ofthe different things, but let's
look at a few real worldexamples and additional tips.
How do you take the informationthat I've shared with you and
(18:26):
apply it today going forward inbusiness.
So the first thing when wetalked about authentic
leadership, right, considersharing more.
Now, I understand how this maysound.
I am an introvert, so when wetalk about sharing more, I'm
like, ah, but you want to sharethings that come natural to you,
(18:50):
that you can naturally share.
So some of the things that Iwould share is I would share.
Like I mentioned earlier, Iwould share my personal journey,
how I got to where it is that Igot to, because a lot of times
I had people on my team thatwanted to be in leadership at
some point in time.
I would talk to them about whatthat looked like, how I got to
(19:10):
where I got to.
I even share some of thechallenges you know that
occurred during this journey.
You know now I'm communicating,I'm being open, I'm being
honest.
They're starting to let theirguards down and feel that they
can trust me.
So you can talk about yourcareer path, challenges, lessons
(19:34):
that you've learned.
You know what I mean.
So now they see that you arebeing vulnerable and authentic,
which helps to build trust, andthen they start to open up,
right, when we're talking aboutrespect.
You know what I mean.
So think about ways that youcan show respect.
(19:57):
Another thing is, when someone'stalking, let them talk, you
know, especially if it is ontopic, if it is what you're
talking about Now.
Granted, if you're holding ameeting and they're discussing
something that's not related,you can ask them, you know, in a
nice way that's a little bitoff topic, let's put that in the
parking lot and if we have time, at the end we'll circle back
(20:21):
to it Then.
That way they know you heardthem.
They understand that it's notabout what you're talking about,
but that you will come back tothem and address whatever, um,
that con concern was or whateverit was that they were
discussing.
So you want to find ways tokind of play out how you can,
(20:42):
how you can do this right.
You know what I mean when we'retalking about building
relationships.
An example would be outside ofthe one-on-ones, where you are
talking about work, you couldhave something that I
implemented was coffee chats,right, so I would schedule.
I would schedule meetings withdifferent team members, you know
(21:06):
, first thing in the morningover my coffee, and we just have
a 10, 15 minute.
You know coffee chat where wejust talk.
It's just like a touch in, likea check-in how are you doing?
Is there anything that I canhelp you with?
You know what I mean.
If they had shared somethingwith me, you know, then I'd ask
how that's going.
(21:27):
You know, sometimes people withkids, they like to share things
about their kids or if they'regoing to school.
You know, you kind of justcheck in to see how things are
going and it's just reallycasual conversation, not
necessarily about work.
Sometimes it bleeds over intoyou know work.
They may be working on aproject hey, how's it going?
(21:49):
Is there anything that I canhelp you with those types of
things?
And that is buildingrelationships.
People know that you care.
Right, they're on the calendar.
This is their time.
I'm not on my phone doing thoseconversations.
I'm not, you know, checkingemail doing those conversations.
They have my undividedattention, which in this day and
(22:13):
age, is huge when you givesomebody that type of attention.
So those are just some waysthat you can put it into play
right now, because I want you totake this and actually use it
and let me know how it goesright.
So you know there's so manydifferent things that you can do
(22:34):
to implement this right nowwith your teams.
Just make sure you use it.
So that is it right.
So we've talked about buildingtrust within teams.
I've given you some.
You know why.
We've talked about why it'simportant.
We've talked about ways tobuild trust within your team,
(22:55):
the impact that trust has onteam performance, and then we
also talked about some thingsthat you can do, some real world
examples, some things that youcould do right now, today, to
implement this with your teams.
So that is it, and just inclosing, I'd like to say that
building trust as a new leaderis a journey and it takes time,
(23:17):
effort and consistency.
By being authentic, showingrespect, communicating openly
and honestly, buildingrelationships and leading by
examples, you can lay a strongfoundation of trust within your
team.
Remember, trust is the gluethat holds a team together and
it enables us to achieveextraordinary results.
(23:42):
So take the time to invest inbuilding trust and you'll see
the benefits reflected in yourteam's performance and in their
morale.
Thank you for tuning in to theoperations toolbox for business
leaders.
If you found this episodehelpful, please share it with
your network and subscribe toour podcast for insights and
(24:05):
practical advice.
Until next time.
I'm Tanya D and I wish yougreat success in your leadership
journey.
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