Building TrustDr. Christine Riordan

Are You Trustworthy?

Leadership is impossible to achieve without trust.

• Do you think subordinates are willing to be vulnerable to your actions – confident that their rights and interests will not be abused?

• Do you think you can gain access to knowledge and creative thinking of others, if you’re not trusted?

Five Key Dimensions Of Trust

Integrity Refers to honesty and truthfulness

Of the 5, this is the most critical when we assess each other’s trust

Competence Does the person know what s/he is

talking about?

Consistency Reliability and predictability

This one is particularly relevant to managers.

Nothing is noticed more quickly than a discrepancy between what we preach and what we

practice.

Loyalty Willingness to protect and save face

for another person Trust depends on someone not to act

opportunistically

Openness Can you rely on the person to give

you the full truth?

How Do You Build Trust?

Mistrust comes as much from what people don’t know vs. what they know

Openness leads to confidence, so . . .

–Keep people informed –Make decision criteria overtly clear –Explain your rationale –Be candid about problems –Fully disclose relevant information

Be Fair

•Before making decisions and taking action consider how others will perceive them in terms of objectivity and fairness

•Give credit where credit is due

•Be objective and impartial in performance appraisals

Speak Your Feelings and Tell The Truth

• Those who convey only hard facts come across as cold and distant

• If you share your feelings, others will see you as real and human.

• Integrity = someone who tells the truth

Show Consistency

• People want predictability • Take time to think about your

values and beliefs (in large part that is one of the goals of this course), and let them consistently guide your decisions.

• When you know your central purpose, your actions will follow accordingly.

Fulfill your promises Are you dependable?

Maintain confidence We trust people who are discreet Demonstrate competence

We admire and respect others who demonstrate technical and

professional ability