Leadership: Trust 101
By: C.C Achukwu
Tags: Leadership, Leadership Development, Management, Management And Leadership, Trust

We have all heard that trust is earned. But it goes both ways: for the leader and for his or her people.

The leader must continually work just as hard at earning the trust of his or her followers as they must equally work in earning his or hers.

To be an effective leader is to be a credible ‘trustholder’, for people wholeheartedly respond to the leader’s cues and instructions to the degree that they trust, respect and admire that leader.

Before a leader can be fully trusted, there is however a questioning preface: “is this person trustworthy?”. Essentially, the people are constantly asking “can I really trust my leader?”.

This shines some light on the ambient behaviours which the leader consistently exudes: whether warm, principled, values-oriented and fair etc, or cold and detached, selfish, and arrogant etc.

A leader’s trust tank thus fills up to the degree that his or her people can perceive positive and trustworthy qualities in him or her as an individual and as a leader. Usually, people observe the person before the position that he or she occupies and disseminate commensurate measures of trust.

Being perceived as trustworthy is thus an essential brick in the basic building blocks of trust for any leader, for it strengthens the leader’s weight of influence and enhances his or her general appeal.

The ABCD Model of Trust

In Trust Works!, a book on cultivating trust, Kenneth Blanchard and two other colleagues book put forth a concept known as the ABCD model of building high trust.

“A” stands for Able/Ability.

They postulate here that one of the primary ingredients for creating improved trust is competence.

The emphasis of ability in this regard revolves around respected expertise.

“Authority flows to the one who knows” says the ancient Socrates.

Therefore, a leader may do well to have respectable levels of adeptness in the relevant technical or professional activities that concern his or her specialized field such as marketing and finance, and more importantly in the general skills of leadership such as communication, decision making and creativity etc.

Strong ability in technical and general leadership skills may also lend perceptions of legitimacy to the leader, thus boosting overall trust ratings.

“B” stands for Believable/Believability.

Trust is very synonymous with believability. If one cannot be believed, one can hardly be trusted. If I cannot believe a word you say, I will struggle greatly with the prospect of trusting you.

One way in which leaders and managers may enhance believability is to ensure that their words and actions constantly match up.

Credibility may suffer greatly when publicly espoused values, ideals and behaviours do not match with the leader’s consistent conducts, thus negatively affecting the leader’s believability.

Believability, therefore, means that a leader consistently models expected behaviours and that he or she does not stop. If he or she does, then the opposite end of the stick may quickly turn — an erosion of trust.

This shows that to be believable is to be constant — in acting in a compatible manner with proclaimed (positive) values.

“C” stands for Connected/Connectedness.

The leader has to be moderately close to his or her people in order to feel their heartbeats and to create a climate of openness.

Being connected means that the people are valued, respected and appreciated for who they are and that the leader is willing to build a sound relationship with them that echoes that belief.

Certain leaders may be sceptical about being sociable with their people because they feel that being close would dilute their leadership influence.

The assumption may be that friendship with subordinates automatically means inviting contempt towards their position as leaders. While an extremity of friendship might put respect in jeopardy, moderate affableness on the leader’s part might actually enhance involvement and productivity.

People eventually grow to resent leaders who unashamedly behave in a manner that clearly illustrates just how wide the chasm of status is between them. But they are open and ready to wholeheartedly work alongside the leader who shows interest in them and values their worth as human beings and as contributors to the organization.

It is almost certain that some subordinates will abuse the friendship of their leaders. But there’s more to be gained from the aggregate than from the minority who flout respect.

“D” stands for Dependable/Dependability.

Dependability is generated as a result of consistent behaviour in the right direction.

When people see how constantly the leader embodies and models proper values, and how committed he or she is to them and to the organization, they may be more likely to grow a new depth of respect for the leader.

This depth of respect may translate into increased dependability towards the leader. People often depend on whom they respect deeply.

We may find that we are often guided by the notion that it is the people who should be primarily concerned with being found dependable vis a vis to the leaders. Not necessarily.

Both the leader and his or her people may be better off if they exchanged mutual levels of respect, trust and dependability amongst each other. Results might be achieved quicker, the environment might be a lot more inspiring and people may enjoy higher rates of overall workplace satisfaction.