Nine Steps Leaders Can Take to Build Trust

Corporate leaders as a group have largely failed to earn the trust of their employees, and that includes IT managers, who may be particularly lacking in some of the qualities that define a trusted leader.

That’s the assessment of John Hamm, a Silicon Valley-based venture capitalist, leadership advisor and author of the book, “Unusually Excellent: The Necessary Nine Skills Required for the Practice of Great Leadership.” Don Tennant recently spoke with Hamm, who made it clear that he sees among employees in corporate America a widespread lack of trust of those in authority in their companies, and that the fault lies squarely with the leaders. What lies at the heart of this failure to earn employee trust isn’t maliciousness, Hamm said. It’s obliviousness.

In his book, Hamm has outlined some steps leaders can take to build trust in their companies. Those steps are highlighted in this slideshow.

Click through for nine steps you can take as a leader to build trust in your company, as identified by John Hamm, a Silicon Valley-based venture capitalist, leadership advisor and author of the book, “Unusually Excellent: The Necessary Nine Skills Required for the Practice of Great Leadership.”

Realize that being trustworthy doesn’t mean you have to be a Boy Scout. You don’t even have to be a warm or kind person. On the contrary, history teaches us that some of the most trustworthy people can be harsh, tough or socially awkward — but their promises must be inviolate and their decisions fair.

Look for chances to reveal some vulnerability. We trust people we believe are real and also human (imperfect and flawed) — just like us. And that usually means allowing others to get a glimpse of our personal vulnerability — some authentic (not fabricated) weakness or fear or raw emotion that allows others to see us as like them, and therefore relate to us at the human level.

No matter how tempted you are, don’t bullsh*t your employees. Tell the truth, match your actions with your words and match those words with the truth we all see in the world: no spin, no BS, no fancy justifications or revisionist history — just tell the truth.

Never, ever make the “adulterer’s guarantee.” This happens when you say to an employee, in effect, “I just lied to [someone else], but you can trust me because I’d never lie to you.” When employees see you committing any act of dishonesty or two-facedness, they’ll assume that you’ll do the same to them. They’ll start thinking back through all of their conversations with you, wondering what was real and what was disingenuous.

Don’t punish “good failures.” This is one of the stupidest things an organization can do — yet it happens all the time. A “good failure” is a term used in Silicon Valley to describe a new business startup or mature company initiative that, by most measures, is well-planned, well-run and well-organized — yet for reasons beyond its control (an unexpected competitive product, a change in the market or economy) it fails. In other words, “good failures” occur when you play well, but still lose. When they’re punished, you instill a fear of risk-taking in your employees, and with that you stifle creativity and innovation.

Don’t squelch the flow of “bad” news. Do you (or others under you) shoot the messenger when she brings you bad news? If so, you can be certain that the messenger’s priority is not bringing you the information you need: It’s protecting her own hide. That’s why in most organizations good news zooms to the top of the organization, while bad news — data that reveals goals missed, problems lurking, or feedback that challenges or defeats your strategy — flows uphill like molasses in January.

Constantly tap into your “fairness conscience.” Precise agreements about what is fair are hard to negotiate, because each of us has our own sense of fairness. But at the level of general principle, there is seldom any confusion about what fair looks like. Just ask yourself: Would most people see this as fair or unfair? You’ll know the answer (indeed, as a leader, you’re paid to know it).

Don’t take shortcuts. Every organization wants to succeed. That’s why, inevitably, there is a constant pressure to let the end justify the means. This pressure becomes especially acute when either victory or failure is in immediate sight. That’s when the usual ethical and moral constraints are sometimes abandoned — always for good reasons, and always “just this once” — in the name of expediency.

Separate the bad apples from the apples who just need a little direction. The cost of untruths to an organization can be huge in terms of time, money, trust and reputation. As a leader, you have to recognize that you are not going to be able to “fix” a thief, a pathological liar or a professional con artist — all of these must go, immediately.