As a middle manager, you are focused on your goals, team and delivering excellence. While you are solving complex technical challenges in your job function successfully, as a leader, the responsibility of building a productive and engaged team is on your shoulders as well. You have taken several management & leadership training and you know that trust is one of the foundational attributes – which will either build or destroy your own and your team’s success.
Trust is a very commonly used word, and you understand the meaning, but have you really worked on yourself to cultivate what makes you truly trustworthy? Where does trust come from? Does your team trust you? What about peers and other lateral co-workers?
And, how do you measure and quantify it? Can surveys and polls do even a fairly good job of gaging this ?
I have learnt a few things about trust at the workplace, and I would love to share my learnings.
Lets start with, what it is NOT:
- Its not static, it can never be “completed as a task”, you have to be deliberate and intentional about it; and keep at it in every interaction
- Its not same as your personal relationships, since the workplace dynamics are different; and your goals are different
- Its not measurable deterministically if it’s there; however lack of trust can be identified very clearly
Here is what helped me over the years, in building a trustworthy relationship with my own team and other co-workers:
- Understanding deeper context of people, past experiences, their journeys and motivations; and then helping them get ahead by guiding, leading and enabling them
- Communicating often and clearly, by listening more than talking
- Providing authentic and radical feedback – along with a supporting hand and asking for progress
- Trusting my gut feel and attending to red flags at its earliest;
Each of the points stated above, has a lot more to it. For a deep dive into any of the points or different aspects in your mind, I can be contacted at Nabler (https://nabler.us/contact-nabler).
#leadership #middlemanagement #buildtrust #mentoring, #coaching #nabling
