Firing On All Cylinders: Trust and Empowerment of Teams
Leaders build trust through their integrity
In a survey of characteristics expected of leaders by team members, researchers Kouzes and Posner identified integrity as the top trait desired in those whom others are willing to follow. Generating and sustaining trust is the central ingredient to leadership!
Trust is the ingredient that holds relationships together, enables people to work together, and invokes desire to follow a leader. Good leaders are genuine, credible, dependable, predictable, and benevolent as they embody the values and ethics of the organization.
Robert Rosen devotes an entire section of his book, “Leading People,” to the issue of trust. He elaborates that creating an atmosphere of trust consists of:
Being honest about oneself and clear about the condition of the organization, trusting others with that knowledge.
Being personally vulnerable and allowing others to have a part in one’s life and work.
Practicing one’s convictions, values and beliefs; being open with what one personally believes.
Creating an open, trusting culture through caring about people, identifying with them, investing oneself in their lives, and genuinely listening to them.
A critical leadership task is fostering trust. The single greatest contributor to creating an atmosphere of trust is trusting others—being willing to take the risk of believing in people, giving them responsibility and refusing to take it back, letting go of controls and giving other people the opportunity to succeed (or fail).
Individuals who are unable to trust others often fail to become effective leaders. They can’t bear to be dependent on the words and work of others and end up doing all the work themselves. Trust exists when we make ourselves vulnerable to others whose subsequent behavior we cannot control. By trusting another person, we express a level of dependence on that person. The leader’s behavior is more critical than that of any other individual in determining the level of trust that develops within a group.
Kouzes and Posner summarize it well, “Credibility of action is the single most significant determinant of whether or not a leader will be followed over time.”
Leaders create a climate of participation, creativity, diversity, and empowerment
Effective leadership is not a matter of controlling and directing others; it is a matter of unleashing and enabling them to take responsibility for the success of the organization. Power is an expandable pie, not a closed system. When it is given away, it expands and increases. As you strengthen others, your level of influence increases with them.
Visionary leaders create a sense of ownership. They communicate to people within the enterprise that this is their work, their opportunity, and that they are critical to the success of the whole. Do you recognize that your power is in your people? Do you seek to enable everybody to contribute to their fullest?
A relevant biblical principle relates well—the participation of each person for the maturity of all. Every member of a church is called to contribute to the life and health of the entire group (Ephesians 4:15-16). Each member is necessary; they just need equipping. In the same way, the task of leadership is to equip others to enhance the organization. And this cannot occur without your intentional investment in your people.