How to Build Trust as a Leader
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Specific, straightforward ways to build trust with your team as a leader.
As a leader, your life is about 10,000 times easier when your team trusts you. That's true whether you're leading a new team or one you've had for years. Building rust isn't mysterious, it comes from specific, concrete behaviors you can start practicing right away. In my opinion, these are the most powerful ones.
“Autonomy builds trust because of the message it sends: “I trust you to do your work, so go do it.””
1) Give people autonomy.
Give your team some rope and some runway. Let them do their thing. Skip the micromanaging, and resist the urge to nitpick every detail of their work.
Autonomy builds trust because of the message it sends: "I trust you to do your work, so go do it." When people feel that message, they tend to rise to meet it.
2) Respond well to mistakes.
The way you respond to other people's mistakes has a huge impact on them. If you come down hard or freak out when someone slips up, they learn to hide their mistakes. They also stop being vulnerable or willing to be imperfect around you, and that willingness matters a lot.
Obviously people making sloppy mistakes again and again is a problem and needs to be addressed. But coming down hard on someone rarely prevents the next mistake. What it does prevent is the person trusting that they can admit an error to you and get a calm, reasonable response. You want people to bring problems to you early, and also take ownership when they mess up. That only happens when they know it's safe.
“If you shoot down every idea that comes out of someone else’s mouth, people stop sharing ideas with you, it’s that simple.”
3) Don’t be quick to shoot down ideas.
If you shoot down every idea that comes out of someone else's mouth, people stop sharing ideas with you, it's that simple.
This doesn't mean being fake and pretending to love every suggestion and hair-brained idea. It means being conscious of how you say yes, how you say no, and how you respond in general. There's a big difference between "That won't work, I hate that" and "Tell me more about that. Here are some concerns I have. How could we work through them?"
The second approach lets you push back on an idea you don't like while keeping the conversation open to deepen the conversation or possibly change your mind. Even when you have to say say no to the idea, think about how you can say yes to the person.
4) Be aware of how you speak to people.
Do you care about the people on your team? Are you kind to them? If you're always in a hurry, always in a huff, and rarely warm with people, it prevents high trust because there isn’t high connection.
“Speaking badly about one coworker to another is one of the fastest ways to obliterate trust.”
A lot of this comes down to building real relationships. Say hi, get to know people on a personal (but professional) level. Learn things about them and treat them like human beings rather than cogs in the wheel of a workplace.
Also pay attention to how you talk about people when they're not in the room. Speaking badly about one coworker to another is one of the fastest ways to obliterate trust. If you'll do it with them, it’s only natural for people assume you'll do it to them.
5) Be generous with praise & appreciation.
When people feel valued, appreciated, and seen by you, they trust you more. It's a natural human response. We tend to trust people we like, and we tend to like people who make us feel seen and valued.
If your boss consistently and genuinely goes out of their way to say, "Hey, you did a great job on this project," or "I really appreciate how you show up," you like them more as a result of feeling appreciated.
When people like their boss they try harder and generally care more about the success of the team and company which translates into higher performance and better customer experiences.
6) Ask for feedback & receive it well.
Your ability to ask for feedback and respond well to it shows vulnerability. It tells your team that you care about their experience of you and that you're willing to grow, rather than putting on a facade of knowing everything.
“People instinctively distrust a leader who can’t be vulnerable and feels the need to know everything and show up perfect in front of everyone.”
People instinctively distrust a leader who can't be vulnerable and feels the need to know everything and show up perfect in front of everyone. Our intuition tells us that person cares more about their ego and image than about relationships and how others experience them.
Why This Matters So Much
If any of these feel like a weak spot for you, that's good to recognize. There's plenty of research and resources out there on how to do each of them more effectively, and it's worth digging in. The payoff is big.
Trust improves performance, retention, and morale. People who like and trust their boss tend to stay longer, try harder, and bring more ideas to the table.
Trusting teams collaborate more and get more creative. When people trust you, they feel willing to share ideas and speak up in meetings. You get a better version of your team.
People take more care and pride in their work. If you like your boss, you generally like your company more, and you do better work because you care about the outcomes. People who dislike their boss or their company don't tend to care much about the company's success. Those things are tied together.
Autonomy frees people to make decisions. When your team feels trusted, they don't have to bring every single thing to you to solve. They can think, "My leader trusts me to make this call, and if I get it wrong, I won't be made to feel horrible about it." That confidence is what turns people into problem solvers.
Put it all together and you get a higher performing, higher morale, more cohesive team with stronger collaboration, engagement, and creativity. When your people trust you, you get a better version of them. These six habits are a great place to start.
Related Blogs:
5 Easy Ways to Build Trust as a Leader
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This article was created by Galen Emanuele for the #culturedrop. Free leadership and team culture content in less than 5 minutes a week. Check out the rest of this month's content and subscribe to the Culture Drop at https://bit.ly/culturedrop
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