Trust and Leadership

When writing on the subject of engendering trust for a school paper, I feel as though I brainstormed a litany of characteristics for a leader to possess. Among the key ingredients for a leader in a corporation, on which I settled, are: integrity, emotional intelligence, knowledge, fairness and thoughtful decision-making, communication, and reliability. Without these qualities, trust is hard to come by.

In order to build trust, it is paramount that the leader first and foremost want to earn trust and that they are trustworthy. Once trust has been established, it is easy to grow its roots. However, just like the expression goes, “one cannot rest on laurels,” so one cannot let trust go unnourished. The risk lies in taking for granted the partnership a leader has with the constituents. It is important for the leader to be knowledgeable, to develop business acumen and to have quality expertise. And building a culture of learning and sharing promotes trust among the team, trust in leadership and trust in the individuals. But trust is delicate and can erode if care is not taken to be fair and make logical decisions, even if they are unpopular decisions. Communication is key and leaving an open forum for diverse contributions creates new opportunities, a sense of accomplishment for individuals and interdependence. Part of this engendering trust among multi-facets within an organization is to focus on talent development, diverse contributions to success and thoughtful promotions. Finally, trust cannot survive if a leader does not follow-through on their word.