“It’s time to stop talking about trust and start doing
something about it...”[1] wrote
+Barbara Kimmel, Executive Director, Trust Across America as an introduction to
+ Frank Sonnenberg's Managing with a Conscience: How to Improve Performance
Through Integrity, Trust, and Commitment (2nd edition). It's no wonder in
that Sonnenberg refers to the quality 100 times in his book. [Don't mistake the following for a review,
however, I will highlight a few additional points Sonnenberg makes.]
"Trust" shows up on everything from US currency to
who knows how many corporate mission statements and untold number of
leadership-themed books, not to mention endless philosophical and moral relationship
treatises.
Willing to make an uneducated guess, it may be that 80-90%
of CEOs and business owners give lip-service to trust and may even believe in
their heart-of-hearts that they both trust their employees and can be trusted
themselves. If that appears to be hyperbole to you, forgive me.
This topic of trust, particularly as it relates to business
governance and leadership, is important enough to talk about often. As a TEC Chair, I work with a terrific bunch of business owners and CEOs and all
are challenged when it comes to trust. On the flip-side of what I stated
above, many owners and CEOs find themselves vulnerable because deep
down inside they may actually distrust some of their colleagues. We could go
round and round on that but for the leader who actually does trust his direct
reports and senior managers, that leader must make it absolutely clear that's
the case.
A real-life example that comes to mind is that of a CEO who,
for several months, was having misgivings about one of his senior managers. The
problem arose from the sense that this manager didn't seem to bring much "to
the table." The manager had been on board prior to this CEO's tenure and
as far as she was concerned, she was performing every bit as well as she had
always been. Neither knew what the other was thinking.
I listened to this through several meetings. Influenced by
what was being shared, the only normal thing to do was to ask, "Why?"
Why hadn't something been done about this? Why hasn't this been discussed
specifically with the manager? Why are you allowing this concern to affect the
team? Why don't you just get rid of this problem? Quit procrastinating!
Then one day, something very important occurred. A
vendor was visiting the company to discuss a significant matter that involved
this manager's department and was worthy of including our CEO. During the
course of the presentation and ensuing exchange, the manager noticed that our
CEO had little to add to the conversation.
Call it insecurity or whatever you'd like, but during the next
one-to-one meeting between them, the manager shared that she had grown very
uncomfortable during the meeting and suggested the CEO had chosen to remain
silent in an effort to allow her to just "hang out there;" play the
fool, so to speak.
Our CEO wasn't sure how to respond but was smart enough to
share the experience with his wife who brought up the issue of trust.
It became clear to our leader that a genuine conversation
with this manager needed to take place. Clarity of expectations and the
groundwork for trust had to be established. You see, he didn't question the
skill and the ability of the manger and actually trusted her expertise and judgment.
He had not bothered to communicate that but mistakenly assumed she knew it was so.
Soon thereafter another meeting was scheduled and the CEO
humbly requested an opportunity to set matters straight. With care and forethought,
he expressed that, indeed, he did trust this manager. His silence during the
vendor meeting was due to his sense that he just didn't have anything to add
and, in fact, he was a bit sheepish due to the reality that he hadn't spent
enough time educating himself on the subject. He apologized for that.
He also took the opportunity to 'reset' with the manager.
They discussed their mutual expectations of each other and both agreed to work
at improving their communications.
Sonnenberg wrote, "Employees
have the right to know that their employers have confidence in them and in
their abilities. People do not like being second-guessed or micromanaged. They
want to know that management trusts and respects them to do a responsible job.
This leads to superior employee performance. "[2]
You guessed it. There was no need to replace this manager.
This is just one simple example. Our pursuit of high-performance leadership must include trust
and a forum that provides opportunity for the leader to teach, to coach, mentor
and express his or her confidence in the team chosen. The CEO must allow for
and demand the same of his direct reports and their direct reports all the way
downstream.
It may be easier said than done for many but let me share
one more piece of sage advice from Sonnenberg's book;
"Changing to a
more open and trusting environment requires letting go, unlearning many
management practices of the past. That is not easy and does not happen quickly.
It requires managers to leave behind many skills, sources of status and power,
and implicit assumptions about the workplace that were formulated during past
experiences."[3]
Barbara Kimmel couldn't have been more right and if you, as
a leader, haven't given this some serious thought lately, revisit the subject.
Chances are, your performance and theirs', will greatly improve.
Jim Naleid
is a Life-long Entrepreneur,
Change-Agent and Thought Leader, Managing Director of Naleid & Associates
and Regional TEC (“The Executive Committee”) Chair leading a
group of executives to become Better Leaders, Making Better Decisions with
Better Results. http://www.linkedin.com/in/jimnaleid
[1] Sonnenberg, Frank K. (2011-12-22). Managing with a
Conscience: How to Improve Performance Through Integrity, Trust, and Commitment
(2nd edition) (Kindle Locations 9-11). .
Kindle Edition.
[2] Sonnenberg, Frank K. (2011-12-22). Managing with a
Conscience: How to Improve Performance Through Integrity, Trust, and Commitment
(2nd edition) (Kindle Locations 648-652).
. Kindle Edition.
[3] Sonnenberg,
Frank K. (2011-12-22). Managing with a Conscience: How to Improve Performance
Through Integrity, Trust, and Commitment (2nd edition) (Kindle Locations
2456-2458). . Kindle Edition.
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