Alone, no battle is won. In isolation, success cannot be achieved; working in a vacuum makes one falter. The monarchs, the leader, the chief, are given their stature and value only by the raging teams behind them. These are the teams that have implicit trust and complete belief in their leaders. And these are the teams that the leader in turn, has complete faith in. This is what leads to success. Hence the values of trust, belief and confidence are rare yet important quali ties to embody. They result in cohesiveness, co-operation and finally a strong unit working well together to achieve success.
However, the current day corporate resonates with insecurity, employees are competitive and hence trust is lost. Leaders sometimes are looked upon as strict monarchs who work behind closed doors. On the contrary, a leader has to resonate with trust such that every worker is inspired by the example and is willing to follow the leaders’ instruction, even in times of risk. Trust is not achieved alone. It is a shared concept. Not only do leaders have to generate employee trust in them but also show trust in the abilities of their workers. Both the worker and leader have to trust each other.
A leader has to leave behind his ‘I’, his sense of sole authority and importance. To impart trust one needs to work as a team member and not always as a chief. Originality, innovation and greater efficiency will result.
Management guru Peter Drucker states, “ The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say ‘I’, and that’s not because they have trained themselves not to say ‘I.’ They don’t think ‘I.’ They think ‘we’; they think ‘team’. They understand their job to be able to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don’t sidestep it, but ‘we’ gets the credit. This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done.”
Every leader resonates the values that he upholds. Hence to build confidence and trust in yourself, state your principles, and value them even in times of difficulty and risk. Then leaders are looked up to and trusted. Credibility is important in trust building. Live by your values, work as hard as your head, falter with grace and win with humility.
When held on to tight, employees only slip away. But when trusted, their performance as well as belief in the leader only grows. Employees working within strict, non-flexible frameworks are bound to feel antagonistic towards the leadership and management. Workers cannot be expected to do mechanical work.
A sense of involvement is necessary which can be generated when they form an integral part of decision making, or problem solving techniques that relate to their work.
Leaders often hold on to every important task and do not take inputs. On the contrary, leaders have to trust their workforce and let go. This leads to every process, and decision being made faster and hence resulting in better productivity.
The leader who plays favourites and does not treat all with respect will face difficulties. For a leader to be trusted he has to exude fairness and honesty. Rude behaviour, an arrogant attitude only depicts self-importance and lack of respect for others. Playing favourites results in loss of internal co-operation. But a leader who treats everyone equally is looked up to. Reward the worker who excels, but never be unfair or unjust. Give everyone their due importance.
Trust is not created in an isolated position. Managers, leaders have to communicate clearly with their peers and subordinates for them to follow the leaders’ goals, paths and methods of functions. Secrecy only leads to hostility.
Further, a leader has to always be honest in his communication especially when there is a problem.
Honesty, integrity, trust seems like virtues or even words of another era, not applicable to the current, rapid, transient and volatile corporate world. But behind every story of permanent and repeated success is the principle of trust-employee trust in the leadership and the leaders’ trust of their employees. Mutual trust is the mantra for success.
Courtesy : UZMA HYDER
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