As we mentioned in the last post, your ability as a leader to influence your team is based on their trust in you. Obviously, trust is something that you build over time with consistent and reliable actions. So how do you build trust as it relates to your ability to influence and lead your team?
As you establish credibility with the team, they will learn to trust in you as a leader. This will take time but once established it will have a significant and lasting impact. Integrity is a key component of this. Your team needs to see that you “walk the talk.” That is, you consistently do what you say, in an honest manner, that is fair and delivers desired results.
Communication with the team is also critical. You need to be clear when laying out expectations and be sure that this is understood. Communication must be open and a two-way street. Be willing to listen to others especially in areas where they have more technical knowledge or expertise. If the team sees your willingness to incorporate and consider their input, they will learn that your decisions are sound and well thought out making it easier to gain buy-in.
Confidence and decisiveness are also important. It has been said that a well thought out decision that fails is better than indecisiveness. Waffling back and forth creates confusion and may actually cause division among the team. If a decision is made and the team feels they will be supported, they will realize that mistakes are not fatal.
Hold yourself accountable. When things go well, credit should be broadly shared. When things do not work out as planned, you do not always need to accept blame entirely, but you should acknowledge your role and perhaps accept more than your fair share. In this way the team will feel supported. Over time, they will begin to model your behavior as well demonstrating accountability themselves. The cohesiveness which develops will result in a positive work environment producing better results.
When delegating a responsibility, it is okay to monitor but that should not lead to micro-managing. While you may see it as helpful, it is likely to be interpreted as lack of trust in their capability. It is okay to start with small tasks and increase responsibility in your delegation to others over time. Regardless of the size and scope of the delegated work, you must trust their actions once delegated.
Establish a vision and share it with the team. This helps to create cohesiveness, transparency and trust. It serves as a roadmap and will help others to understand what is driving your decision process helping them to see consistency in your actions.
These actions will build trust in you as a leader. And as we stated earlier, once you are trusted, it is easier to effectively influence others as they will better understand and support you. This process may take more time to implement at first but once in place the long-term benefit will be worth the short-term effort.