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#Leadership : 6 Habits Of Trustworthy Leaders…The People in your Office May Not Trust you as Much as you Think they Do. Here’s How to Win them Over.

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Do the people in your office trust you? Maybe not as much as you think they do.
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Consulting firm EY released its Global Generations 3.0 research which found that less than half of full-time workers between the ages of 19 and 68 place a “great deal of trust” in their employer, boss, or colleagues. Another recent survey from Globoforce’s WorkHuman Research Institute found that 80% of employees trust their colleagues, but only 65% trust senior leaders in their companies.

That’s a problem. EY’s research also found that low levels of trust majorly influences employees to look for another job (42%), work the minimum number of hours required (30%), and be less engaged and productive (28%).

“People are forgiving if they know that their leaders—particularly their senior leaders—are trying,” he says. “If they know that their senior leaders are being straight with them and they have [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][the employees’] as well as the company’s best interest in mind, they’re more likely to trust.”

Earning the trust of your team has real bottom-line benefits, says Dennis Reina, cofounder of Reina, a trust-building consultancy and author ofRebuilding Trust in the Workplace: Seven Steps to Renew Confidence, Commitment and Energy. He points to one of his clients: an airline with a troubled operations team. Lack of trust, marked by infighting and poor communication, was making the team ineffective. In a year, Reina’s team raised the level of trust in the department by 51 points, according to a post-test they did. The department saved $1 million in strategic planning costs because they were able to work well together and cut the planning time down to one-third of previous requirements, he says.

There are a number of simple, straightforward actions that build trust, Reina says. Here are six simple tactics that work.

KEEP YOUR AGREEMENTS

Few actions ruin your trustworthiness faster than breaking your word, Reina says. Doing what you say you’re going to do reinforces the perception of your character. If circumstances change and you’re unable to do so, explain why with as much detail and context as possible so all parties understand the reason for the change. When you’re consistent with your word, people know they can depend on you.

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GIVE CONTEXT

Leaders are often counseled to give specific direction and communicate clearly, but context is also important, Reina says. When people understand why you’re asking them to take on a difficult challenge or a task they’d rather not do, help them understand the importance of what you’re asking. Seeing how their role fits into a bigger picture and is valued helps them understand and trust the organizational vision, which can help foster greater trust in both the company and its leaders. Plus, transparent cultures are good for business.

BE PRESENT

When you’re interacting with your team members, pay attention and focus on the conversations and dynamics, says Tara A. Goodfellow, managing director of Athena Educational Consultants, Inc. Listen to what matters to your employees and let them know that you are actually hearing and considering what they’re saying. If you’re distracted or unfocused, you risk making them feel like you’re insincere, which will erode trust.

“If you don’t get to know your employees and what motivates them, it’s really hard to build that trust,” she says.

WELCOME DIVERSITY

Leaders and organizations that welcome varied input and feedback are more trustworthy. The EY study found that 38% of respondents say that a diverse environment is a “very important” determinant of trust. In this context, diverse environment means that it “strives to recruit, retain, and promote diverse people with all differences including gender, country of origin, and thinking style,” according to the survey results.

BE HUMAN

You’re going to make mistakes and there are going to be things you don’t know, so ask questions, admit when you’re wrong, and, when appropriate, make amends, says Timothy G. Wiedman, a former corporate manager and associate professor of management and human resources at Doane University. By showing a measure of vulnerability and willingness to admit when you’re wrong or need help shows that you’re human and helps people more easily relate to you, he says.

“A question that should have been asked—but wasn’t—may have catastrophic consequences that will not soon be forgotten,” he says. But when people know that you’re willing to get the answers you need instead of faking it, they’ll trust you more, he says.

HAVE THEIR BACKS

Employees will trust you most when they feel you’re looking out for them, Reina says. Encourage feedback—even when it’s difficult to hear—and create an environment where they feel secure. When they are having challenges at work, provide the support, training, or resources they need to improve. And if they’re facing an unfair or otherwise disruptive situation, go to bat for them to make it right.

“People are forgiving if they know that their leaders—particularly their senior leaders—are trying,” he says. “If they know that their senior leaders are being straight with them and they have [the employees’] as well as the company’s best interest in mind, they’re more likely to trust.”

 

FastCompany.com | GWEN MORAN |  09.19.16 5:18 AM

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#Leadership : Great Leaders Replace Rules With Accountability…Is it Possible to Replace 90% of All Company Rules? So, What’s your Answer?

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Recently we explored “Why Good Companies Have So Many Bad Rules” and “Why Almost All Rules And Policies Have Bad Outcomes.”  So what is better than rules? How can we replace rules with something that still encourages the best behaviors? In a word: Accountability.

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Yves Morieux, a senior partner at Boston Consulting Group, urges companies to manage growing complexity not by dictating behaviors and over-specifying processes, but rather by creating a culture and context where the ideal behaviors organically occur.

In his TED talk, As Work Gets More Complex, 6 Rules to Simplify, he shares the story of an automotive company that was suddenly forced to deal with the new financial realities that accompany longer warranties. What happens, for example, when an owner brings his car to the dealer to fix a light, and the mechanic must remove the engine to remove the light? If the car has to stay a week in the garage instead of a couple of hours, it causes the warranty budget to skyrocket. In essence, how could the company make cars as easy to repair as possible?

Initially, the automaker responded with a complicated new process, new job titles, new KPIs, and it all had zero impact on the problem. Then the company changed course. This time, they decided to allow their people to use their own judgment and decision-making but to hold their people accountable for those decisions. Specifically, they made their employees feel what game theorists call the “shadow of the future.” According to Morieux:

“They said to the design engineers: Now, in three years, when the new car is launched on the market, you will move to the after sales network, and become in charge of the warranty budget. And if the warranty budget explodes, it will explode in your face.”

With the decision to make the designers responsible for the warranty budget, the designers’ accountability increased. In effect, company leaders inspired what author Justin Bariso calls “self-empathy” or empathy for your future self. The designers were moved to invest extra effort now to promote easy repairability later, since they were the ones who would have to deal with negative consequences.

 

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I can remember my former partners and I trying very hard to increase “cross-selling” among our different divisions. Cross-selling is a common problem in large organizations and notoriously hard to accomplish. At first, we did all the usual stuff: held a “summit” to rally around it, trained each other on all of our solutions, mandated that every sales call include a secondary pitch of a cross-sell solution.

Of course, nothing changed. Then our CEO decided to make us truly accountable for cross-selling: 100% of our annual bonus was going to be tied to the amount of what we sold of other team’s solutions. One hundred percent! Literally I could have doubled the sales of my business unit, but if I didn’t sell anybody else’s solutions I would have gotten no bonus for that year. Suddenly, everyone was cross-selling everything. Problem solved!

Instead of using rules, look for opportunities to build accountability by assigning ownership and consequences to their decision-making.

I described previously how my old CFO and partner tried to control expenses mandating that nobody could buy sticky notes. And no alcohol could be ordered when having a company meal while traveling. It left everyone feeling micro-managed and bitter.

Wouldn’t it have been better to just set a quarterly office supply budget per person (by role), and trust people to buy whatever they needed? Or even better, set a per role budget and create some kind of contest or reward system for those who came in under budget?

What about travel expenses? What if there were no per meal or per day reimbursement rules for the sales team, but instead everyone’s per day meal expenses were posted on a public rack-and-stack board? Imagine the power of peer pressure when you see most people are spending $25 per day on travel meals and you’ve been averaging $50 per day. What if the top 25% lowest spenders were celebrated or given gift cards as thank you? Wouldn’t expenses organically drop while engagement went up?

How can you pair accountability with coaching? Instead of a hard and fast no-beer rule, what if the CFO just flagged someone’s manager when a meal reimbursement seemed out of line? Then a coaching conversation could take place. Maybe the high expense could be justified (e.g., “It was in Manhattan, I had worked all day and into the night skipping lunch and room service was the only option.”) Or maybe not (e.g., “What, four beers at dinner is too many?”), but it would become a conversation that reinforces the expectations around professional behavior and expenses.

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Kevin Kruse is the author of Employee Engagement 2.0 and a top leadership speaker. Join his newsletter at kevinkruse.com.

 

Forbes.com | August 22, 2016 | Kevin Kruse

#Leadership : 7 Things That Make Great #Bosses Unforgettable… #Google Knows that People Don’t Leave Companies; They Leave #Bosses.

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Once again, Google has topped Fortune magazine’s list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. This marks Google’s second year in a row at the top of the list, and their sixth victory overall.

 

Most people assume that Google tops the list because of their great benefits and all of the fun and perks that they pack into the Googleplex. But that’s just part of the equation.

Google knows that people don’t leave companies; they leave bosses. But unlike most companies, who wait around hoping for the right bosses to come along, Google builds each Googler the boss of their dreams.

Their people analytics team starts by researching the qualities that make managers greatat Google. They’re the managers everyone wants to work for. Next Google built a training program that teaches every manager how to embrace these qualities. Once managers complete the program, Google measures their behavior to ensure that they’re making improvements and morphing into managers that Googlers want to work for.

 

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Google is building bosses that are so good, they’re unforgettable. And why do they do it? In the words of Laszlo Bock, Google’s SVP of People Operations, “Our best managers have teams that perform better, are retained better, are happier — they do everything better.”

Indeed they do. Unforgettable bosses change us for the better. They see more in us than we see in ourselves, and they help us learn to see it too. They dream big and show us all the great things we can accomplish.

When I ask audiences to describe the best and worst boss they have ever worked for, people inevitably ignore innate characteristics (intelligence, extraversion, attractiveness, and so on) and instead focus on qualities that are completely under the boss’s control, such as passion, insight, and honesty.

Google’s program isn’t the only way to become a boss people want to work for. Any of us can study the unique qualities of unforgettable bosses to learn valuable skills.

1. Great bosses are passionate. Few things are more demotivating than a boss who is bored with his or her life and job. If the boss doesn’t care, why should anybody else? Unforgettable bosses are passionate about what they do. They believe in what they’re trying to accomplish, and they have fun doing it. This makes everyone else want to join the ride.

2. They stand in front of the bus. Some bosses will throw their people under the bus without a second thought; great bosses pull their people from the bus’s path before they’re in danger. They coach, and they move obstacles out of the way, even if their people put those obstacles there in the first place. Sometimes, they clean up messes their people never even knew they made. And, if they can’t stop the bus, they’ll jump out in front of it and take the hit themselves.

3. They play chess not checkers. Think about the difference. In checkers, all the pieces are basically the same. That’s a poor model for leadership because nobody wants to feel like a faceless cog in the proverbial wheel. In chess, on the other hand, each piece has a unique role, unique abilities, and unique limitations. Unforgettable bosses are like great chess masters. They recognize what’s unique about each member of their team. They know their strengths, weaknesses, likes, and dislikes, and they use these insights to draw the very best from each individual.

4. They are who they are, all the time. They don’t lie to cover up their mistakes, and they don’t make false promises. Their people don’t have to exert energy trying to figure out their motives or predicting what they’re going to do next. Equally as important, they don’t hide things they have the freedom to disclose. Instead of hoarding information and being secretive to boost their own power, they share information and knowledge generously.

5. They are a port in a storm. They don’t get rattled, even when everything is going haywire. Under immense pressure, they act like Eugene Kranz, flight director for the Apollo 13 mission. In the moments after the explosion, when death looked certain and panic seemed like the only option, Kranz kept his cool, saying, “Okay, now, let’s everybody keep cool. Let’s solve the problem, but let’s not make it any worse by guessing.” In those initial moments, he had no idea how they were going to get the astronauts home, but, as he later explained, “you do not pass uncertainty down to your team members.” People who’ve worked for an unforgettable boss often look back later and marvel at their coolness under pressure. That’s why, 45 years after Apollo 13, people are still talking about Eugene Kranz and his leadership during that crisis.

6. They are human. And they aren’t afraid to show it. They’re personable and easy to relate to. They’re warm. They realize that people have emotions, and they aren’t afraid to express their own. They relate to their people as a person first and a boss second. On the other hand, they know how to keep their emotions in check when the situation calls for it.

7. They are humble. Since these bosses don’t believe they are above anyone or anything, they openly address their mistakes so that everyone can learn from them. Their modesty sets a tone of humility and strength that everyone else follows.

Bringing It All Together

For many unforgettable bosses at Google and elsewhere, things clicked once they stopped thinking about what their people could do for them and started thinking about what they could do to help their people succeed.

Inspire. Teach. Protect. Remove obstacles. Be human. If you cultivate these characteristics, you’ll become the unforgettable boss that your people will remember for the rest of their careers.

Who is the greatest boss you ever worked for? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below as I learn just as much from you as you do from me.

 

Forbes.com | October 15, 2015 | Travis Bradberry