An Insight: Into Leadership
Trust, my friend is the key asset of a Leader. And it is a double-sided game. You should be able to trust the right people in the right amount and be able to gain the trust of your people. What makes it more interesting is that these two aspects are interdependent. Read further to know more…
Investing Trust
Just in case you are inspired by the popular dialogue of Billa (Trust No One, Kill Anyone, Be Only One). You may or may not be the only one. But there is a great chance that you would end up all alone — doing everything all by yourself. Thus, fail to unleash your potential and miss a lot of fun.
“What If” are the biggest enemies of investing trust. What if they fail me? What if they do something wrong?
But we also need to think “What If I end up doing everything myself and deliver a mediocre result?”
Investing Trust in people (or Money for that matter) follows the same process of coming out of your Comfort zone into your Growth zone (because it is actually true that Growth lies in trusting people)
What’s the process? Baby investments.!
Put in a little trust and if the person keeps up the trust, invest a little more and in that fashion keep increasing your trust.
Why? Trust empowers people to do more, and do things which they might otherwise not do. A little trust goes a long way!
Gaining Trust
The core of Influence is Trust. You need to gain the trust of your people, without which you won’t be able to influence and impact them.
How to gain trust? Two steps! 1. Give trust. 2. Live up to people’s trust without letting them down.
You need to give trust to gain trust. If you don’t trust anyone, so would no one trust you. And it is always good for the first step to be from your side.
And once you gain a little trust, live up to it and fulfil people’s expectations so that they can trust you a little more.
What if I fail to keep up their trust?
Failing is humanly possible, and it is true that trust that is broken is hard to be gained back. But it goes without saying that more often than not, the pieces of broken trust still lie around and there is the chance for rebuilding based on what’s left (unless when the trust is crushed beyond collection).
So, if and when you fail, be honest and show your repentance. Let people know that you have accepted the mistake, understood the lesson and are determined to make it right. Honesty and Humility attract trust.
Trusting people would help you delegate tasks which others can do and free yourself for taking on more important tasks or give space for improvement. By not trusting you are doing a severe disservice to yourself and your people.!
Cheers. That’s 30 mins for today, see you tomorrow!
