Five steps to build trust as a leader

As we lead we are confronted by people of different persuasions and that’s the hardest world a leaders should learn to live in. The smartest thing to do is to coach people into leadership and get out of their way.

As we lead we are confronted by people of different persuasions and that’s the hardest world a leaders should learn to live in. The smartest thing to do is to coach people into leadership and get out of their way.

Secondly build a bond with the people you lead so they take you at your word. Being trusted is one thing every leader should build.

Building trust takes time and deliberate effort. As a sales person, it’s easy to market a trusted product or service. It is not necessarily the cost of a product that determines the magnitude of sales, but the trust that has been endowed on it by the customers.

Trust, like a good corporate image, can be built over long time, but be ruined in seconds.

Trust is crucial at any level of leadership. Being trusted as a salesperson gives your leverage over others. Distrust is just as unpleasant as an unseen grain of soil in a well cooked meal. Eventually, it will spoil the meal. Here are fundamental points on trust:

●The power of saying “no”

The simplest formula to true failure is to try to please everyone. The word “no” is hard to say, but very powerful if you are to keep track of what you want to accomplish in life. I used to think by saying “no” I would lose relationships, until I leant a lesson when I could not live to the expectations of the word — “yes”. Most leaders use the word “yes” as a promise that will never be fulfilled. Congruity is a basic ingredient if you are to earn trust. People could be greatly engrossed by what you say but they respect what you do, which backs your word — action. Walk the talk. Your works should be in harmony with or in agreement with words as a leader. You can’t do the opposite and expect to win.

●Small things do matter

Success is built in our small daily routines and so is failure. Some people think a small lie won’t do harm. There are some who think that taking or giving a bribe does not harm anyone. These things seem small, but they damage trust. As you lead, build trust with the people by leading a faithful life.

●Double standards

Most corporate images are damaged because people have double standards. Some corporations or relationships purport or project an image that is purely untrue. I would rather show the real me, than what is the opposite. It is better to be in partnership with an individual with a known defect, than to partnership a wolf in a sheep’s skin.

●Everyone thought they will never be caught

In most cases when we are doing inappropriate things we always think we will never be caught. When we are caught red-handed, we break the trust of people around us. This could be people that look up to us as their role models or people that we lead in an organisation. A bribe is not as good as it tastes! These days it looks close to impossible to live outside corruption because of what is happening around us, but as a leader you can make a big change by not being involved in it. Strive Masiyiwa in his Facebook post (November 6, 2013), gave us great motivation applicable even to the leader.

Corruption
Corruption

He said: “Corruption will end in Africa, when some of us, say ‘enough’. I don’t care, that I have to walk to work, I am not getting on a taxi that pays a policeman, a bribe at a checkpoint while I watch. I am not going to give my cousin a job, in government, because he is my cousin. I am not going to take a bribe when I am a judge in a court case. I am not going to pay a customs official. I am not going to pay anyone a cut for a contract, even if it means I am out of business.”

And when we do this, one morning we will wake up and find there is no corruption in our society, and there are no corrupt leaders, because if there are corrupt leaders, they come from our societies”

●Trust yourself well enough

Don’t think that everyone is doing what you are doing. For example, as an unmarried person it is easy to fool yourself by thinking that there are no virgins around.

With that notion you use it to justify your acts of indulging. Purity is to be a prized pearl for every person who wants to rise to peak platforms. A French cleric, Cardinal de Retz, once said: “A man who doesn’t trust himself can never really trust anyone else.”

Success is not about being lucky, but knowing your purpose.

Trust yourself well enough to act on your plans, possess the proper attitude, part ways with trivialities and know your priorities

lJonah Nyoni is an author, success coach, leadership trainer and public relations consultant. He can be contacted on 0772 581 918 or email: [email protected]