How To Build Trust In Your Team

Trust is the currency of leadership.

It’s not vision, strategy, or results that make a leader truly effective. It's really all about trust. Without trust, even the most skilled leaders struggle to inspire, motivate, or retain their teams.

Of course there's plenty of research that backs this up. Employees in high-trust environments are 74% less likely to feel stressed and 50% more likely to be productive.

Yet trust can feel fragile and challenging to build, but there are clear, actionable steps to strengthen it over time.

Combining the work of Frances Frei and Brené Brown, we are really talking about three things:

Character

⮑ Can I trust your persona? Are you authentic and credible?

Competence

⮑ Do you have the skills to do the work? Is there consistency in your actions?

Connection

⮑ Do you care about me? Do you understand me?

Simon Sinek also put it nicely by saying that ”𝘈 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳. 𝘈 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳.”

So if trust is the currency of leadership, ask yourself this simple question:

Why would your team trust and choose to follow you?