Trust and leadership are inextricably linked. In both good and bad times, employees subconsciously evaluate their leaders to see that they are worthy of their trust.
According to research by Dr Amy Edmondson, a Harvard Professor, a combination of psychological safety and high standards is vital for teams to reach their full potential.
As we head into a new year with new goals and expectations, you might be finding that you are tasked with some stiff challenges with leading your team.
The last couple of years have seen remarkable turbulence in both the global economy and workforces. The impact of COVID is still continuing to reverberate creating trends such as The Great Resignation and Quiet Quitting.
Now, we are facing a looming recession, redundancies, inflationary pressures, continual supply chain issues and a cost of living crisis. Employees are returning to work scared and uncertain. Of course, when things are unsettling trust is low.
As human beings, we are biologically programmed to want to be with people and work together, as we instinctively know it helps our survival. Yet, there is a dark underside to this need to be with others – we also fear rejection.
The last couple of years have been exhausting. Throw in a pandemic, home schooling, managing COVID outbreaks (and that's just within your own family), high workloads, supply chain issues, the increasing cost of living, floods and global political tensions and it's enough to make anyone head for the safety of their bed.
We all know the world of work is undergoing profound changes. What makes change difficult is that organisations, and leaders, are still applying a framework designed for another time and place.
As human beings we all know how wonderful it feels to be trusted by your leader. Being able to trust your boss and being trusted is always rated in the top things employees want from their leaders (as well as honesty and respect).