People need to have faith you’ll do what you say if you’re going to be a successful leader. The best way to show you have integrity and deserve trust is following through on your words.
Integrity comes down to doing what you say you will, says Mark C. Crowley, La Jolla, Calif.-based speaker and leadership consultant who wrote “The Power of Employee Well-Being.”
“If you say you’re going do something and you don’t do it, you’re destroying your reputation for integrity and undermining trust in a truly profound way,” he said.
Raising Your Level Of Trust
Say you tell someone you can’t give them a raise now but you’ll revisit it in three months. Six months later, though, you still haven’t mentioned it. Their faith in you will vanish.
Author Stephen Covey referred to an “emotional bank account” that everyone keeps. Fail to live up to your word and that account drains quickly. Keep your word and you’ll get better results from your teammates. “It’s central to people feeling safe, respected and being able to give their best,” Crowley said.
Your actions need to win trust to be successful. “Trust is really the foundation of leadership,” Crowley said. “If people can’t rely on what you say, they’ll spend their energy second-guessing instead of doing their best work.”
Integrity and trust are fully intertwined, says Jennifer Nash, chief executive and founder of Jennifer Nash Coaching and Consulting operating in Ann Arbor, Mich., and Austin, Texas. Nash wrote “Be Human, Lead Human.”
“One supports the other and it goes both ways,” Nash said. Integrity breeds trust, a vital trait. “Trust is part of the glue that makes relationships work,” she added
The benefits are clear. A 2023 Deloitte study showed trusted companies greatly outperform their peers. And during Ford Motor (F) Chief Executive Alan Mulally’s tenure, its employee engagement scores more than doubled. Trust was a big focus for him.
Operate With Integrity By Staying Consistent
Win trust by being consistent in your decisions and actions. “An unpredictable manager is the worst to be around,” Crowley said.
It’s also vital to be honest, even if you’re passing along harsh news. If the company is struggling and jobs will be cut, people need to know that. They won’t like the news but they’ll respect your honesty. “We can get comfortable with delivering bad news,” Crowley said.
Avoid the temptation to take the short-term gain by caving in on your values. “It’s a slippery slope,” Nash said. “Now you’re veering into this moral space of your behavior not aligning with what you truly believe. When you’re not being authentic, people can sense that from a mile away.”
It’s not enough to do what you say you’ll do. Spread integrity and trust across your group by being clear about what you expect from others, too. If you demand honesty and sticking to commitments, define what that means and use examples to show what it looks like. Be a role model, too. “It’s not enough to just say what’s expected,” Nash said. “You have to do it, too.”
Reward Good Behavior To Build Trust
Provide rewards or recognition when people in your group show integrity at a particularly crucial time or do something that wins trust, she says.
Focus on your foundational values, too. That’s how the U.S. Navy SEALs do it. They choose 10 words that form a credo. Then they can quickly look at those words to make sure their decisions are consistent with those values. You can do the same.
“Then when you have difficult decisions to make, they’re often made for you because your values are going to lead you,” Crowley said. Admit your missteps, too
“If you apologize and admit mistakes, others will do that, too,” Crowley said. “This is how you earn respect and trust.”
Finally, build trust in your group by trusting others first. Nash says it works better and faster than withholding trust until others earn it. “Withholding trust and making people earn it slows performance, relationships and communication,” Nash said.
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