To be a great leader, you need to have a team that trusts you. Without the trust of your team, they are far less likely to follow you. When you have gained their trust, it encourages far more productivity, efficiency, and action within the workplace. Building their trust takes time and dedication, but is well worth the energy. As a leader, these are the best ways to build trust with your employees:
Be Honest with Your Team
Being honest with your team seems easy until it isn’t. Telling them about how well the business is doing well is great, but when it comes to telling them of failures, it can be difficult. When speedbumps like losing an investor, pay cuts, or your own failures happen, it’s important to be open about them with your team. They will acknowledge your honesty and be more inclined to trust you in the long run. Keeping these things from them will make them not trust you and lose faith in you as a leader.
Acknowledge Thier Hard Work
As a leader, you are not the star of the show. It’s important to realize that you wouldn’t be anywhere without the hard work of your team. Give credit where credit is due and thank them for all of their hard work. Not just by giving them incentives like a bonus, but also time the initiative to acknowledge their hard work at the next team meeting. Make sure they feel appreciated and they will trust you.
Be More Passionate
If you look like you hate coming to work, your team is going to think that you don’t care what happens to the business or to them. When being a leader, you need to act with passion and show them how much you care. Come to work every day with a good attitude and be excited to get the work down. Sometimes this can be hard but it shows your team that you care. Having a leader that cares helps them trust any actions or decision you make and encourages them to follow you.
Show Care for Your Team
It’s easy to say “business is business”, but any great leader will understand that their business is run by real people. To be a leader your team can trust, recognize that they have lives outside of work and take an interest in it. Ask them how they’re kids are doing, what hobbies they are into, or even invite them out to lunch to get to know them better, By showing them that you care about them as people as well as employees, you are building their trust. Trust goes a long way between leaders and their devoted team.