You Are Dead In The Water Without Trust

By Tyler Head

This is part three of Leading with Heart.

In our previous insight, we discussed the importance of engaging with your own vulnerability as the act of “Laying the First Stone.” Vulnerability is the first of the three facets of “Leading with Heart.” Part 1 introduced this critical differentiator for businesses that want to thrive in leading the current and upcoming generations.

In this insight, we will discuss how “time with” and intentionality are needed to keep laying stones that will bridge the gap in your organization.

Bridging the gap is a reference to the main challenge we outlined in the first insight of this series—the space between what got you where you are and what will help your people go farther. Click here if you’d like to read that insight.

Like the tedious process of building a stone bridge that will far outlast you, developing high-trust relationships takes time with and intentionality.

Trust takes time with and intentionality.

• Time With | May be the most valuable gift we offer and receive.
• Intentionality | The fact of being deliberate or purposeful (Oxford Dictionary).

David Rock, who holds a doctorate in the Neuroscience of Leadership, says that as a people leader in an organization, everything you do either supports or undermines the perception of trust across the organization. He goes on to say that trust is pervasive. “Every action you take and every decision you make either supports or undermines the perceived levels of status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, and fairness in your enterprise.”

…no pressure.

I have a dear friend who is a craftsman at heart and a business owner by definition. As a landscaper, he is relatively young in his craft but old in his practices. Recently, I stopped by one of his job sites as he and his team were finishing up a stone structure. He began to tell us about the construction process as we stood there.

Two things stuck out to me in this conversation; the chiseling and intentional placement of each stone.

To build this wall, he had gathered tons of stone—literally. But in order for this pile of stone to become something that will last, it needed time with and intentionality.

Time with the stone looked a lot like chiseling, shaping, and measuring each stone to fit the greater needs of the structure.

Intentionality looked like placing the stones and properly arranging them to support the structure.

Time with and intentionality took a scattered pile of stone to a beautiful structure that supports, contains, keeps in and out, holds up, and likely will outlast those who built it.

Leading an organization and developing high-trust relationships need both time with and intentionality.

In an article published by Harvard Business Review titled “The 3 Elements of Trust”, they reported extensive research data collected from 87,000 leaders over 360 assessments. The authors outline how leaders can elevate the level of trust within an organization. It’s an insightful read—check it out if you get a chance.

The article highlights three key elements of trust. Positive Relationships, Good Judgement/Expertise, and Consistency. However, one of these three vastly outweighs the rest. I’ll let you read it for yourself.

“Intuitively, we thought that consistency would be the most important element. Saying one thing and doing another seems like it would hurt trust the most. While our analysis showed that inconsistency does have a negative impact (trust went down 17 points), it was relationships that had the most substantial impact. When relationships were low, and both judgment and consistency were high, trust went down 33 points.”

“It was relationships that had the most substantial impact.”

Much like my friend who spends time with and intentionality when constructing structures out of stone, developing high-trust relationships within your organization takes time with and intentionality.

Come back in a couple of weeks—when we will discuss more about bridging the gap by Leading with Heart.

If all this sounds a little wild—that’s okay. We love walking alongside leaders like you as they walk with their people, developing a shared purpose and cultivating a collaborative culture that DRYVE better business results. Click here to schedule a complimentary strategy call today!