Trust is the new engagement
Perhaps the most significant dimension of trusting people is the reason for doing so in the first place. In other words, the WHY.
The overarching responsibility of any leader looking to maximise potential in their team is to grow people. In contrast, managers who control and command (unfortunately still in the majority today) look to fix their people.
Growing people through trusting them is the better way to lead. Great leaders grow people, and nothing grows people better and faster than an extension of trust.
There’s nothing soft about this idea. When people grow and get better, performance improves, staff turnover reduces, absenteeism is lower and customer experience is greater, all of which impacts the bottom line.
Too many HR managers still don’t get this, and don’t instill it in their managers, with many in HR focused on transactional data, performance appraisals, exit interviews and new hire processing, without clear focus on what an employee needs to grow, and how to inspire them. This is a major reason why HR typically doesn’t have a seat on the Board. The truly enlightened People and Culture managers who get this and are focused on building a Culture of Appreciation through trust are experiencing the significant benefits.
If micro managing people stifles their creativity and commitment to work and the company (which it does), trusting people does the opposite. When you extend trust, you’re telling people you believe in them. You believe they will make rational decisions and have good judgement. When given that level of belief and responsibility, people usually want to live up to that, and want to prove the trust justified.
They go beyond their normal level of effort and tap into something deeper – discretionary effort, while delivering greater energy, creativity, commitment and ultimately results.
“Leadership is not about YOUR ambition as a manger. It is all about bringing out the ambition in your team. The leader must have both the courage to take people to a daring destination and the humility to selflessly serve others on the journey” – Cheryl Bachelder, CEO of Popeyes.
Command and Control is DEAD. Trust is the new engagement. Avoid this at your peril.
