By Sue Bingham
Trust is the keystone to managing a team. Just ask Jack who, after 17 years working job sites for a respected construction company, moved into a management role.
Once in his new position, Jack decided to replace the deadbolt on the tool room, which had been broken for years. While there were no immediate or evident concerns about the change from his team, Jack’s assistant manager asked why he felt a locked door was needed now. After all, the tool room had been consistently unlocked to no ill effect for years. The assistant manager suggested the locked door made it seem like Jack didn’t trust his team.
As Warren Buffett put it, “Trust is like the air we breathe. When it is present, nobody really notices. But when it’s absent, everybody notices.” So regardless of his team’s response, we’d be remiss in believing employees hadn’t noticed Jack’s first act as a leader involved locking all supplies away from them. This inadvertently tarnished trust — even if it was never Jack’s intention.
Distrust in the workplace isn’t always as literal as a deadbolt. Historically, training for new leaders has centered around maintaining company rules. But focusing on making a team adhere to a set of rules does anything but show trust in your employees; it shows you don’t believe their behavior will benefit the company and their colleagues.
A team led with trust performs well: Tool rooms (or their equivalent) are unlocked, and no one needs a key. Risking a small theft isn’t as dangerous as risking the alienation of an entire team by showing you don’t trust your employees.
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About the Author: Sue Bingham is the founder and principal of HPWP Group. She works closely with company leaders to analyze their organizations and facilitate the implementation of commonsense systems that have a positive impact on their organizations’ bottom line. She has a passion for helping companies embrace and transition to high-performance work environments. Sue is the bestselling author of Creating the High Performance Work Place.