Building A Thriving Culture
Using The Most Powerful Leadership Currency
The first month after David’s resumption, he built a good rapport with executive leaders of several departments. He was invited to events and showered with accolades for his work. This felt like the best employment of his life.
One day, he had an idea — an idea that was supposed to radically change the way business was done across the organization. Management was excited and asked David to lead the charge. He put himself out there, expecting his fellow executive leaders to respond with their support. He had no reason to expect less. But this project made David see a side of the organization he had never experienced before.
He encountered unbudging roadblocks and backstabs from people that once praised him. David sat back and watched as the project fell into oblivion while his employment hung by a thread and Management turned a blind eye. What did he do wrong?
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Faced With Two Choices
Consider the case of David. A lot of employees like him would rather stay in the shadows and quietly earn their salaries for their peace of mind. But others will connive, scheme, and push their way forward, not caring who gets burned in the process. Again, this only leaves the organization fractured along different interests.
Overall, the organization suffers on both counts.
The Trust Equation
Trust, almost like love, is often downplayed as an abstract concept with no significance or real value. But John McFadyen writes in his blog, The Trust Equation that ‘the level of trust present in business relationships, whether internally with employees and colleagues or externally with clients and partners, is one of the most significant determinants of organizational success.’
Again, Stephen Covey, in his book The Speed of Trust, argues that there is a missing element in the equation ‘Strategy x Execution = Results.’ He states that there is a component of trust that affects speed and cost. When trust goes down, speed goes down and cost goes up. So ‘Strategy x Execution x Trust = Results’ becomes a better way to metricize this concept where trust appears either as a ‘trust tax’ (a negative) or a ‘trust dividend’ (a positive).
David’s experience may mean that he’s lost trust in the system. And the system may have lost trust in him. And therefore, projects may become slower to execute and cost more overall.
A Third Choice: Smart Trust
Trusting in others brings out their best quality. Trust is a risk, but the rewards outweigh any possible harm. But how do you restore trust in a low-trust environment? David Horsager talks about learning how to extend the right amount of trust in every situation. He calls this smart trust. It lies in a flexible scale between distrust and naïve gullibility.
If, because of an experience, we treat everyone around us from a point of a trust deficit, we lose an important aspect of leadership which means we will not be able to inspire a certain level of responsibility and excellence. Leaders must inspire trust by being trustworthy and extend trust by trusting others.
‘The first job of a leader — at work or home — is to inspire trust. It’s to bring out the best in people by entrusting them with meaningful stewardships, and to create an environment in which high-trust interaction inspires creativity and possibility.’ — Stephen M. R. Covey
The Japa Syndrome
Think of the Naija situation. Young Nigerians are leaving the country in droves because they’ve lost trust in their leaders. An article by Forbes makes a strong point by stating that the difference between rich and poor nations of the world comes down to the trust culture. For example, the ease of doing business in Nigeria compared to Dubai was a major topic of discussion at a recent meet-up with my fellow Power MBAs. In one case, people are incentivized to bring out their best creative selves while others stifle it at every turn.
Sri Lanka’s economic malaise and political collapse didn’t happen overnight.
To restore trust in any environment we find ourselves in, we must understand its reciprocity. Let’s start with ourselves by embracing reliability, transparency, competency, authenticity, fairness, and vulnerability. You can read more about this here.
Have you earned, lost, or regained trust recently? Share your experience, it could help someone.
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