Building trust is a must. If a leader cannot be trusted, no one is going to follow him or her. Without trust, applying successful changes in an organization becomes very difficult if not impossible. Visions may not become reality. Your words cannot enter people’s hearts and inspire them. Without trust, people may not listen to you and your promises even if you know the answer to their needs. Thus, building trust is the key to leadership but building long-lasting trust takes time and effort. The following five ways help you build trust among people more easily and quickly:
1. Trust them first
The circle of trust starts with you. If you want to be trusted by others, you need to trust them first. How do you expect your people to trust you when you do not trust them first? How do you expect people to believe in you and your capabilities when you don’t believe in them and their capabilities first?
By trusting people first, you become trustworthy to them. When you become trustworthy, then, based on the law of attraction, you attract trustworthy people toward yourself. The stronger your degree of trust in people around you, the faster you build trust among people and the sooner your visions turn into reality.
2. Develop competence, connection, and character
Competence, connection, and character are three important elements in building trust. Through competence, you tell others that you know what you are talking about and that you have enough knowledge to be called an expert, advisor, or leader. Through connection you tell others that you are open and interested in building relationships with them and allowing them into your circle of friends to share what you have to offer. Through character you tell others that you are a human being who understands them, respects and cares about them, and helps them in any way you can.
Developing all three is necessary for long-lasting success. If any one of these three elements is missing, you may not be able to build long-lasting trust and your success may be temporary.
3. Have integrity in your thoughts, words, and deeds
Integrity is the foundation of authentic leadership. Integrity simply means being the same person wherever you are and in whatever you do. It means following your core values both at work and at home. It means doing what you say you will do.
In order to build long-lasting trust among people and have them be faithful to you, you need to have integrity not only in your words but also in your thoughts and deeds. You should not say one thing and do another. To be trusted fully, your thoughts, words, and actions need to be in harmony.
Unfortunately, this is not the case with many leaders these days. The world of politics has affected almost everything. Through politics, leaders play with their words and do things differently later. They do not do the things that they think are solutions to the problems people face. There would be no harmony in thoughts, words, and deeds and therefore integrity will become only a word.
In order to guarantee your success in leading others, have integrity in your thoughts, words, and deeds in all aspects of your life. I know that it is hard but it is possible when you are aware and are willing to be an authentic leader.
4. Go the extra mile
Building trust does not happen overnight. It is built over time by serving others and doing what is right. To build trust, you do not need to do big things. Your small daily actions are much more powerful than big ones.
By performing small acts of kindness and showing your love and care for others, you guarantee trust. By going the extra mile and paying more attention to some small yet powerful details that others miss, you can fast track the trust-building process and capture people’s hearts faster. I suggest you read the Power of Small by Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval.
5. Listen to what others have to say
Listening to others is a great way to build trust. When you listen to another person attentively and empathically you create a bond between the two of you that encourages the relationship. Trust is the natural outcome of effective and active listening because it tells other people that you care about them and are interested in what they have to say.
By building trust, you are on your way toward achieving your vision and fulfilling your mission with your people.
Kamran Akbarzadeh, PhD, PMP, CDC
Founder of Dream Achievers Academy
Author of Leadership Soup
www.DreamAchieversAcademy.com
