Trust and the Leadership GapBy Steve Fawthrop

Originally Posted on LinkedIn 6/6/14

Leadership, by a company leader or work group leader/manager, hit my radar once again with an anonymous post on an advertising industry site this week. The initial post that started a discussion:

"How do you deal with a DOS/boss who knows absolutely nothing about the industry, can't open doors and can't even train an intern on basic digital 101?! Fellow sellers, please talk me off the ledge and let me know that I'm not alone!"

There are already 12 responses in a day including these few as examples:

"100% exact situation! This is me every damn day."

"This was a discussion the other day. You are NOT alone in that situation. I have an idiot for a head of sales. Absolutely useless."

While the stated situations might be ramped up a bit in the description under the guise of anonymity, there are real emotions coming out in the comments.

High decibel situations aside, I have spotted a number of references to the “gap” in effective work groups due to leadership style. To note:

•A blog on the strengths and related weaknesses associated with entrepreneurial leaders. Guess what Mr. Entrepreneur, you are action driven and have lots of ideas but aren’t always tactful, jump around on priorities and don’t always pay attention to detail. Those flaws work against your success and the ability of those around you to perform their best.

•A blog on the difficulty of older workers working with and reporting to younger bosses and “inherent” conflicts associated with the generational dynamic and different outlook between the two.

•A poll that showed that employees would rather work for an incompetent boss who is nice vs. having a competent boss who is not nice. The fact is either scenario means you will not be successful.

•Another survey, from Gallup research in a book I read a few years ago called “Well Being: The Five Essential Elements” by Tom Rath, showing that 45% of men and 30% of women find it unpleasant to interact with their boss. This was characterized based on interaction with the boss generating feelings of depression, anger or frustration.

This is pretty sad. Given so many people have been unemployed and underemployed over the last six years, it does not provide a lot of comfort that those employed, including the bosses, are not being as productive and successful as possible in their work.

So what is the problem? Is it a personality problem with the entrepreneur? Age or generational differences in a shifting workplace as the Boomers start to exit the workforce and Generation X and the younger Digital Natives take command? Perhaps you have a boss who has the technical or process skills but lacks the communication ability or culture building skills? Are you living with The Peter Principle--the incompetent leader--as your reality as seems to be the case from the comments above? Perhaps we are now getting closer to the core problem and the ability to reference a solution.

The issue at the leadership level comes down to trust. Does the leader inspire trust?

Good question, you may say, but what do we mean by trust?

In the book “Speed of Trust” by Stephen M.R. Covey (the son of the “Seven Habits” author) he notes that trust has two key components:

•Character

•Competence

Character is depicted by the attitude and approach you take to a relationship whether it is work related or personal.

Competence is the ability to get things done right in the circumstance of the relationship.

Both are needed to establish a confident trust relationship. Trust overrides whether a leader is Type A or analytical, whether the boss is a man or woman, younger or older than the staff. Trust allows for an environment where the combination of talents and effective work styles are optimized for performance rather than altered around the personality of the leader.

And what do I mean by competence being circumstantial? Covey gives an example in the book that his wife trusts him as a husband but when she needed surgery she went to a qualified doctor, not him, to have the procedure done. His wife legitimately did not trust him, compared to the doctor, related to her medical needs. That was appropriate for the circumstance.

The same is true at work. People may prefer the easier course of the agreeable, incompetent boss over the tyrant, but in their heart they do not want someone who is an amiable dunce either. They want to know the time and effort they make for their work translates into success.

So as you look at issues at work, ask yourself if trust exists in the relationships. If falling short then ask how you can put aside the blocks and work toward a greater trust on the foundations of character and competence.

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Other posts on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/today/author/667794

Additional Resources

September 2014 update: Managing across the generations from Harvard Business Review: http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/09/managing-people-from-5-generations/?utm_source=Socialflow&utm_medium=Tweet&utm_campaign=Socialflow

July 2014 update. A column citing the latest Gallup work engagement survey, a study on the impact of social communications on engagement, conducted by Gallup and Altimeter Group and a highlight by LinkedIn citing 25 leading social companies who build employee engagement: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/new-linkedin-study-shows-social-media-win-win-both-employees-and-workplace?utm_content=buffer1685b&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin.com&utm_campaign=buffer

11 elements of leadership: https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130128162711-15077789-11-simple-concepts-to-become-a-better-leader?trk=mp-details-rc

Gallup research summary related to "Well Being." How socializing and friends make a difference at home and in the work environment: http://businessjournal.gallup.com/content/127043/Friends-Social-Wellbeing.aspx

The CEO of Gallup addresses workplace satisfaction and what really matters most:. To note, his headline is a bit deceptive in where the comments go: https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140605130808-14634910-employee-satisfaction-doesn-t-matter?trk=mta-lnk

John Maxwell video on the five levels of leadership: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPwXeg8ThWI&feature=em-subs_digest-vrecs

About Me

Steve Fawthrop

stevefawthrop@outlook.com

714-876-7062, cell

http://www.linkedin.com/in/stevefawthrop

www.google.com/+stevefawthrop

Twitter: @SteveFawthrop

I have been a sales professional in advertising and marketing as a career. This has included managing my own territories, selling with others and managing sales teams.

Some career highlights:

Seven years in sales management including five years at the Puget Sound Business Journal in Seattle growing local sales to over $5 million annually (+70%). In Seattle I worked with an in-market staff with outside territories and inside sales. In Orange County I worked with dispersed reps across the country.

Joint selling with local reps in the U.S. in the West, Midwest and Texas. I also had the unique opportunity to work with independent reps in Asia while maintaining individual revenue responsibility as part of my eight years working with USA Today. All of the work in Asia was pioneering to break new markets with my dominant focus on Japan. At one point my national territory for USA Today was nearly $7 million annual revenue.

Have opened and grown individual sales territories for regional and national accounts. This included opening the first office in Los Angeles for the Network of City Business Journals, the national sales arm of American City Business Journals.

Over the last six years I shifted more deeply into digital marketing and most recently worked on a mobile ad technology start up, moment M.

I was born and raised in Seattle and graduated from the University of Washington with a B.A. in Communications with a concentration in Advertising.

While a good portion of my professional career has been spent in California—19 years split between Los Angeles and Orange County—I returned to Seattle October 2012.

I have two children. My son, Nolan, is a 2014 graduate from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. My daughter, Hayley, is a junior at Seattle University.

As part of my personal interest and community involvement, I have been a volunteer and board member of the Friends of the Seattle Public Library since returning to Seattle. I also do some volunteer mentoring for my college fraternity, Phi Kappa Psi.

I serve as a community manager for Linked Seattle, one of the largest geographical focused groups on LinkedIn with over 52,000 members.