What is Trust?

I believe that becoming more visible to your employees is the best place to start building trust. Experience has proven to me that getting out of my office and mingling with employees is a simple solution to the common problem of trust. When I start with a new organization and I ask employees what (if any) was the biggest barrier to improve communication and trust with management? More often than not, my response was “I never saw them, they were always in a meeting.”
When employees believes a manager has their best interest at heart, it motivates them to give their best performance

I'm On It

One thing leaders can’t do is communicate from their offices. Sure, meetings, conference calls and reports are important but they are the things that keep us in our office and are nowhere near as important as open communication to our employees.
At a time where productivity and creativity are more important than ever, your company cannot afford lukewarm employees. More to the point your company cannot afford leaders who don’t lead and managers that don’t manage. Lead what? Not projects. Manage what? Not a spreadsheet. But PEOPLE.
Take for example, DHL, the world’s largest express carrier. It decided to focus on “Legendary Customer Service” as their core strategy and introduced the “I’m On It” campaign. Getting people involved ensures that everyone understands the goal and is accountable for the outcome and shares in the successes.
Open communication is key to achieving goals and becoming an industry leader.

Communicating

A senior leader's job isn't to have all the ideas or even most of them. Their job is to communicate corporate goals to associates and motivate them to achieve them. The same applies to any manager. This is a paradigm shift for many of us, requiring a level of trust in employee abilities.

Jack Welch, Former CEO of General Electric said it like this “I think any company that's trying to compete, has got to find a way to engage the mind of every single employee… If you're not thinking all the time about making every person more valuable, you don't have a chance.”

So it goes without saying, great leadership starts with communication.

What's Your Mission?

No matter what you sell or where you sell it, great leaders infuse their employees' work with a clear sense of purpose. They not only explain the mission of the organization in terms of serving customers, acting with integrity and being the best in the industry, but that grand overarching mission.

Surprisingly, many leaders think their job of pursuing a central goal ends once the company values are written. Even when wallet cards are printed and every conference room has a framed poster with it's values. But then leaders are surprised when people's behavior does not conform to the organization's stated values.

I have found that while goal setting may seem to be a basic management skill, it is rarely found in managers that do it effectively. Your organization's mission and goals should be recited in their sleep and in the water they drink.

Mission is where you are going and goals get you there.

Have You Been Sisyphus’d?

Sisyphus was a king in Greek mythology who offended the gods. His punishment was to roll an enormous boulder up a steep hill only to watch it roll back down again to the bottom of the hill, where he’d begin the process all over again. It appears the Greek version of torture is much like the work life of modern man – a meaningless task with no end in sight.

Today many companies operate in such a manner where workers and their leaders have no idea what is valued. With a lack of direction, workers (and leaders) drift along getting nowhere fast.

A leader must focus every day on what matters to the company. Many leaders think that chasing a common goal ends once the company’s values have been written. They print them on posters in conference rooms, on wallet cards but when workers behaviors don’t match the company’s stated values, we are surprised.

Does the audio match the video?

Don't Miss the Point

Some leaders in their enthusiasm for recognition miss the point. Leaders have asked “So if a manager who is not trusted begins using recognition will their scores go up?” Studies show that if you haven’t mastered the basics of leadership, you most likely don’t have the foundation for employees to accept and react to recognition. What are the basics of leadership?
· Goal Setting
· Communication (that includes listening)
· Trust
· Accountability

The Best Known Performer

On June 6, 1954 Roger Bannister did something most people at the time thought was physically impossible; he ran the mile in less than 4 minutes (3 minutes 59.4 seconds). The world celebrated his success as the “miracle mile”. Bannister was celebrated on magazine covers, television and cereal boxes.
One month later it happened again. Bannister’s rival, John Landy of Australia, ran the mile in 3 minutes 58 seconds. The floodgate was now open; soon a sub-four mile became less of a miracle but the expectation of top runners. What had accelerated the pace? Recognition. Bannister’s achievement had shown the rest of the running world what was possible – with rewards and acclaim.
Recognition has similarly accelerated in the workplace. It gives employees a vision of the possible and the desire to reap rewards.
I will continue to show you how leaders can make an impact through recognition and reward in upcoming articles.