If you do a search on LInkedIn for Trusted Leader, you'll find around 1 million people have the audacity to label themselves "Trusted Advisor," "Trusted Leader" or even "Trusted and Inclusive Leader."
I say audacity because telling people you are trustworthy (particularly early in a relationship) is actually a red flag that you're not.
Did you know that only 1 in 10 senior leaders trust their peers to deliver all of the time?
Did you know that one out of every two managers is terrible at accountability?
According to a study published in Harvard Business Review that researched 5,400 managers globally, 46% were rated “too little” on the item, “Holds people accountable — firm when they don’t deliver.” It didn't matter what type of leader- the results held steady for C-level executives, middle managers, supervisors and even subordinates. In different countries and cultures.
One of the common issues companies have to deal with are silos forming between departments.
Executives spend their career delivering in their area of expertise. Once they get into the leadership team, it’s no longer about how their function is performing, but the organisation overall.
Trust may be a small word, but it is incredibly complex. It means different things to different people. How we see trust is based on our life experiences, beliefs, values, the context we find ourselves in and our personality traits.
One of the interesting things I get to do is undertake stakeholder interviews with various members of the leadership team and other stakeholders (such as their employees or customers). I get to hear lots of different perspectives. But it can be fascinating when my research leads me to one person who is pretty much causing all the issues. It can be eye-opening interviewing them (or coaching them) and discover their slightly delusional perspective of what is really happening.
Imagine a workplace in dim light. Employees can't see one another properly or what work is being done. People become fearful, hold back from committing to their full potential and distrust the situation. Greed, corruption, conflict and poor accountability become the norm because people go into self-protection mode when they don't know what's going on. A lack of visibility tacitly enables poor leadership and employee behaviours to run rampant.
One of the things that I strongly believe in, that I mention in my book, Trusted to Thrive, is how leaders make a huge difference in making people feel better about themselves.
In the December 2021 issue of Harvard Business Review, an article by Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez called The Project Economy has Arrived discussed how projects have become the new economic engine of organisations.