How to Build Your Team’s Trust

Author: Casey Gale       

John Keyser

We don’t need to tell you how busy business event planners are — you experience it every day. Although you would probably like to personally handle each and every detail as an event comes to life, there are some tasks you just need to delegate — which requires a large degree of trust among your team members.

In When Leadership Improves, Everyone Wins: A Discussion of the Principles of Highly Effective Leadership, John Keyser, founder of leadership consulting firm Common Sense Leadership, writes about the fundamentals of everyday trust building. Here are  four keys, Keyser writes, to build trust among team members:

1. Tell the truth. When things go wrong, your team wants to know what happened. Instead of keeping mistakes a secret, leaders should be forthcoming and take responsibility for any wrongdoing. “Leaders who take responsibility for their actions earn trust,” Keyser writes.

2. Listen, listen, and then listen some more. Listen to what your team is concerned about, what they are afraid of, and what new ideas they want to share with the team. “Listening,” Keyser writes, “is essential for earning trust.”

3. Share information on a regular basis. “Too often, leaders withhold information to ‘control’ or ‘contain’ a situation,” Keyser writes. “In the absence of factual information, rumors begin to circulate. People become doubtful, and maybe even apprehensive.” When leaders share information with their team, Keyser says, they appear more reliable and trustworthy to their team.

4. Practice crystal-clear communication and over-communicate. It’s easy for a leader’s vision to be misinterpreted through texts and emails, which is why it is crucial for those in charge to clearly share their goals, expectations, and needs for any project. “Keep the mission in everyone’s sight and mind. Repeat messages often — consistency builds trust,” Keyser writes.

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