Leadeship Development – Doug Dickerson on Leadership

Trust is the lubrication that makes it possible for organizations to work. – Warren Bennis

There is an old story of a father who took his young son out and stood him on the railing of the back porch. He then went down, stood on the lawn, and encouraged the little fellow to jump into his arms. “I’ll catch you,” the father said confidently. After a lot of coaxing, the little boy finally made the leap. When he did, the father stepped back and let the child fall to the ground. He then picked his son up, dusted him off, and dried his tears.

“Let that be a lesson,” he said sternly, “Don’t ever trust anyone.”

While that’s a harsh way to teach a lesson about trust, the foundations of trust – what it is, what it means to be trustworthy, is something that needs to be taught at an early age.

An article in studyfinds.org found that the average American has five people in their life they have a strong relationship with and can lean on for anything. From finding someone who is trustworthy or a good listener to finding someone loyal, nearly three-quarters of respondents to a survey agree that strong partnerships help simplify the complexities of life.

While it may appear, at least on the surface, that most people have at least five people in their circle that they can trust or confide in – is the circle far-reaching enough to include the workplace and other areas critical to the success of a leader?

With trust as the focal point of your leadership, there is the potential for great opportunity and success. While trust does not guarantee this success, one thing is certain, there will never be success without it.

How then does a leader make trust the center point of his or her leadership? What does it look like? Why does it matter? Take these points into consideration.

Trust is an inside job first

In order to be a trusted leader, you first have to be trustworthy. Being trustworthy is an inside job. It’s the bedrock of your character and the needle of your moral compass. Trust is developed over time and is an integral part of your character development. Before you are a trusted leader externally, you first have to develop it on the inside. Click To Tweet

Trust is a validation

It’s commonly said that trust has to be earned. And while that is true in many respects, I see trust more as a validation that it’s been seen and observed over time, and has been recognized as a reliable character trait of the leader. When your trust has been validated by the people you lead, you now have the opportunity to lead them with a greater purpose.

Trust is verifiable

Making trust the central point in your leadership also makes it verifiable. Trust is validated not by your words but by your actions. As a leader, this is crucial. Nothing will cause your people to lose confidence in your leadership more than being unreliable and creating uncertainty in their minds about your ability to deliver on what you say. If trust is a validation of your leadership, it’s verified by your daily decisions and actions.

Trust is fragile

While no leader in good faith sets out to purposefully violate his or her trust, it must be handled with care. No leader is perfect and even the best mess up. Unrealistic expectations can be hard to manage, and trust is not exclusive to only the leader. Trust is a two-way street that all must be striving for and protect. The expectation of trust in the leader ought to be the standard for all. Click To Tweet

Final Thoughts

“Character makes trust possible, and trust is the foundation of leadership,” says John Maxwell. I agree. Trust is the glue that holds it all together and as a leader, it must take center stage in your leadership.

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There is a difference between listening and waiting your turn to speak – Simon Sinek

Dana Visneskie tells the story of a Native American and his friend in downtown New York City, walking near Times Square. It was during the noon lunch hour and the streets were filled with people. Cars were honking their horns, taxicabs were squealing around corners, sirens were wailing, and the sounds of the city were almost deafening.

Suddenly, the Native American said, “I hear a cricket.” His friend said, “What? You must be crazy. You couldn’t possibly hear a cricket in all this noise.”

“No, I’m sure of it, the Native American said. “I heard a cricket.” “That’s crazy,” said the friend.

The Native American listened carefully and then walked across the street to the big cement planter where some shrubs were growing. He looked into the bushes, beneath the branches, and sure enough, he located the cricket. His friend was utterly amazed. “That’s incredible,” said his friend. “You must have super-human ears!” “No,” said the Native American. “My ears are no different from yours. It all depends on what you’re listening for.”

It was not surprising to read in a Business News Daily article that in a study, 64% of 675 professional workers in the U.S. and Canada who were polled said that “leaders making decisions without seeking input” was the biggest problem. If that were not bad enough, the article added that 38% of respondents said that “leaders dismissing ideas without exploring those ideas” is the second biggest reason why people don’t take initiative.

And herein lies the problem – the disconnect if you will, between leaders who do not listen and why people are not more engaged in their work. If those in leadership simply do not listen or dismiss ideas out of hand, where is the incentive to be more engaged?

Consistently in any employee engagement survey or reading on the topic, it will almost always identify listening as one of the major concerns on the minds of its respondents – and rightfully so. Until we can get this right, it’s going to be hard to make tangible progress anywhere else.

So how can a leader develop this important skill and increase their influence regardless of where they serve? I believe it comes down to a few key concepts that when put into practice can pay great dividends.

Be proactive

A good leader will always listen to his or her people. But a proactive leader will initiate the conversations. A proactive leader has his finger on the pulse of the organization and will not sit back and wait for people to come to him, but will move toward the people.

A proactive leader is essentially a proactive listener. Click To TweetThis means that the leader is actively engaged with his or her people and sees this engagement as a means to better serve the organization.

Proactive leaders are asking and listening to questions such as: What can we do to improve our product or service? What can we do to improve our culture? What resources do you need? What happens if we don’t change? How can I help you?

By asking proactive questions you keep your pulse on what’s happening, what your people are thinking, and how to best serve them.

Be present

Your ability to listen is predicated by your ability to be present in the moment. This is done by being fully engaged and removing all distractions. By doing this, your people will know that they are important and that you are genuinely interested in what they have to say.

Leaders who are present in the moment and are actively listening stand to gain a lot of insight that would otherwise be missed. Leaders who are present are asking questions like: Currently, what is your greatest challenge? If you could change one thing, what would it be? As a team, do you believe that we are moving in the right direction? What do I need to know that I don’t? What are your growth goals and how can I help you achieve them?

Be prepared

As a leader, you need to be asking key questions of your people and listening. It’s not something that you do to appease your people and give the impression that you care only to walk away and not act on it. Your people do not need or want your lip service.

Leaders who listen should be prepared to act on what they’ve heard. The only thing worse than not being engaged and listening to your people is to have those conversations and not act on them. Click To Tweet As a leader, you need to be prepared to listen and then act.

Final Thoughts

Bryant H. McGill said, “One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say.” And this will always be one of your greatest challenges as a leader. So make it a point to be proactive, be in the moment, and be prepared to act on what you’ve heard. You’ll be the better leader for it and your people will greatly appreciate it.

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Doug Dickerson on Leadership

Tag: Leadeship Development

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