Trust is never given, it MUST be earned.  The trust between a leader and her team are continually built over time, day after day, project after project.  Unfortunately, it only takes a second to loose your team’s trust through a momentary lapse in judgment.

As a leader, the challenge is not only building trust within your organization, but maintaining and continually developing it.  In order to succeed in a leadership role, your ability to influence, inspire, and motivate must continue to grow.

To nurture this trust as a leader, it’s important to understand the seven key components of trust building (sometimes referred to as the Seven C’s of Trust Building).  The better you understand the building blocks of trust, the better you will be able to lead.

Communication:

There seems to be an overwhelming amount of “buzz” about the importance of “communication” between a leader and her team. In fact, I could easily make a case the word “communication” is the most overused and misunderstood term in organizational leadership today.

So how does communication affect a leader’s ability to build trust within a team environment?

In it’s most basic form, communication is nothing more than two or more parties speaking to each other, listening to each other, and understanding each other.  

In order to guide her team in achieving a particular goal, a leader must relay her ideas to the team either through speaking or written word.   It then becomes the team’s responsibility to listen or read what the leader has to say and put the plan into action.  Each teammember should also be given an opportunity to offer their ideas into the plan.  Doing so helps to build a consensus and sense of purpose within the group. 

The element most affecting trust as it relates to communication is in “understanding” what each person is saying.  The “understanding” is the final piece of the communication triangle.  As a leader, it is fundamentally important to ensure your team understands exactly what everyone is saying.  You may think you’ve made your expectations clear, only to discover well into a project that your team is heading towards an entirely different goal.

We are all familiar with the popular elementary school game called ”telephone” were a simple message is relayed from one student, and then to the next.  By the time the message makes it way from the first student to the last the message has changed dramatically.

An effective leader ensures her team fully understands her expectations and then verifies this by periodically monitoring the teams performance as they work towards a particular objective.

Clearly communicating your expectations reduces the possibility that you and your team will be at odds over the outcome of a project.  If your team feels you haven’t given them an appropriate amount of information to perform a particular function, their trust in you as a leader will be diminished.  

Consistency: 

Another important element of trust building is the leader’s ability to remain consistent.  

Why is consistency so important in building trusting relationships with your team? 

If your team sees you responding wildly different to similar situations, they’ll never truly be comfortable with you as leader.  People need to know were they stand with their supervisor.  Leaders who are unable to offer their team this basic level of support will never truly earn their teams trust.

Commitment:

In order to build trust within your organization, its important to demonstrate that you are committed to achieving results.  If you’re not aligned with the vision, mission, and core values of your organization, it will be virtually impossible to motivate and inspire your team.

People can instantly recognize when a leader is not fully committed to a particular task.  They ask themselves “why should we care, if our supervisor doesn’t?“.

When a supervisor continually demonstrates that she is committed to the goals of her team and then does everything she can to support these goals, she will have made significant strides in building trust with her people. 

Consensus:

Forming a consensus within your team is another important element in building trust.  In order for team members to regard you as a leader, you need to help them understand their work is important, and worthwhile.  This is accomplished by allowing team members to contribute their ideas on how to accomplish a particular task. 

When everyone is involved in the planning, its much easier to form a consensus within the group. 

Instinctively, when a consensus is not reached within a team those not in agreement will blame the leader thus straining any levels of trust the leader may have had.

Character:

In regards to leadership, Merriam-Webster defines character as having moral excellence and firmness.  In other words, character is about doing the right thing by your team and organization. 

When you consistently do the right thing, people are naturally drawn to you as a mentor.  No matter what your role is in an organization, the fact that you do right by your team (even if it means being brutally honest) will inevitably build your team’s trust in you.   

Candor:

Being honest and candid with yourself and your team is another important aspect of building trust.  If someone is not performing to your expectations, be honest with the person. 

In my own observations, managers often go out of their way to avoid a crucial conversations. Their personality traits make it very difficult for them to confront underperforming employees.

As time goes by, the manager’s dissatisfaction grows until it reaches the point were it overcomes his willingness to ”let things slide”.  When the manager is finally upset enough to do something about issue, their emotions often get in the way of having an effective coaching moment.

You owe it to each individual on your team to be candid and honest.  The more you practice candor, the easier it will become and the better leader you will be.  Not every individual will be receptive to your honest evaluation of their performances.  However, if your evaluations are accurate, under-performing team members will come to appreciate them over time. 

Individuals that do not appreciate honest feedback of their performance (when you exhibit all remaining qualities of trust), probably don’t deserve to have you as a leader.

Famed leadership visionary Jack Welch (former CEO of GE) advises leaders to “get rid of” individuals who are not open to constructive criticism and are unable to align themselves with the values of the organization. 

Caring:

Last but certainly not least is showing your team members that you care.  People know when you sincerely care about them.  However, most managers fail to realize that caring for their people is much more than occasionally asking about their family.

Leaders build trusting relationships with their people by supporting and encouraging their development within the organization.

Leaders build trusting relationships with their people by asking them about their goals.

Most importantly, leaders build trusting relationships by letting their people know that their opinion counts and they can make a difference. 

As I’ve mentioned many times in the past, the best ideas often come from people closest to the front-lines of an organization.  Leaders can never do everything; when trusting relationships are made, each individual, the team, and the organization will flourish.

Last year I reviewed a great leadership book called “It’s Your Ship” by Captain D. Michael Abrashoff.

In the book, Captain Abrashoff shares the leadership techniques he used to turn one of the most under-performing warships in the US Fleet (the USS Benfold) into the “best damn ship in the Navy“.

Not only is the book full of “actionable” leadership techniques you can begin implementing immediately, it also draws entertaining parallels between the challenges faced by commanding officers in the US Navy and those of civilian executives in the corporate world.

As luck would have it, Captain Abrashoff accepted an invitation to speak at my company’s annual leadership conference in Sugarland, Texas March 24, 2010.  The following is a review his “commanding” performance.

The Introduction:

After a brief introduction was given by one of the managers in my company, a video clip was played over a projector to “formally” introduce Captain Abrashoff to the audience.  The video was from a Monday Night Football game in which “It’s Your Ship” was featured. 

The clip told the story of how Cincinnati Bengal’s quarterback Carson Palmer was given a copy of Captain Abrashoff’s book by his father.  Carson Palmer read the book and implemented many of the leadership principles into his position as quarterback of the Bengals.  It wasn’t long thereafter that Carson Palmer was voted offensive captain by his teammates.

Ironically, Captain Abrashoff wasn’t the biggest fan of the Bengals at the time and was disappointed the team went on to beat his favorite team twice the following year.   

The Delivery:

If you’re familiar with Captain Abrashoff’s book “It’s Your Ship”, you’ll remember that Captain Abrashoff prided himself on being approachable by anyone on his crew.  His humble approach and genuine interest in people translates into his speaking as well. 

Where most “highly regarded” guest speakers speak at you in more of a condescending tone, Abrashoff’s style is very open and welcoming; he speaks to his audience.

Another thing that stood out for me was that Abrashoff did not use a single PowerPoint slide during his entire presentation, yet he kept a consistent flow during his entire speech.

The Content:

Most of the material in It’s Your Ship was covered by Abrashoff during his lecture. 

I was surprised that he didn’t tell the story of how himself, the ship’s XO, and the five department heads were in the mess hall eating lunch with 6 Naval Inspectors when the ship got underway from the dock.  It was a great story emphasizing the amount of trust and competence he had established with his crew.

Captain Abrashoff talked about his background as a military assistant to former Defense Secretary William Perry and how Perry’s unique leadership style helped shape his own success as a leader.  (If you ever have the opportunity to see him in person, ask him about his Monika Lewinsky story!)

Abrashoff shared many great stories of how he developed trust within his team.  One story in particular that stood out was how each day he climbed down 5 levels of ladders to access the sewage treatment area on the USS Benfold to emphasis to the sailor assigned to this station how important his job was to the success of the operation.   

Abrashoff also shared the three major events in his life that really changed how he looked at leadership, people, and getting the job done.

The Conclusion:

After a very entertaining and informative hour of speaking, Commander Abrashoff opened the floor to questions from the audience. 

Not one to miss out on an opportunity, I asked him about one of the regrets he had mentioned earlier in his speach about not doing more to help other captains in his carrier group.  I asked him what specifically he would have done to accomplish with the hope that it might help my own company better communicate between “competing” business units.

Captain Abrashoff (or “Mike” as he asked us to call him) said there was only so much he could do as a commander on one vessel.  His idea would have been to speak with the commanding officer of the carrier group and schedule periodic meetings between the captains of each vessel sharing what was working, what wasn’t working, and what could be done to make each ship better.

After answering a few more questions for 20 minutes or so, Captain Abrashoff was presented with a small token of our company’s appreciation (a fancy pen set with our company’s logo) and left on his way.

I’m not exactly sure how much Abrashoff charged for his appearance, but there wasn’t a single person in attendance (that I spoke with) that wasn’t very impressed with what he had to share.

I would recommend hiring Captain Michael Abrashoff as a guest speaker or lecturer to any organization looking to build teamwork, empower their leadership team , and improve their ability to get things accomplished.

In It’s Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy, Captain D. Michael Abrashoff shares his leadership skill in turning one of the Navy’s most underperforming war vessels into the “best damn ship in the Navy”.

Although the USS Benfold was one of the most technologically advanced fighting machines sailing the high seas, moral within the crew was low and the vessel’s performance scores routinely dipped below the Navy’s expectations.

From his first day on board, Captain Abrashoff set out to improve the moral and competence of his new crew. He improved living conditions onboard the vessel, improved training, and restored a sense of pride that had long since disappeared on the vessel.

He freed up his crew member’s time by eliminating tasks on board that added no real value, and he also reduced maintenance costs by replacing mediocre equipment with products of more durability.

While some of the leadership techniques described in his book had his superior officers scratching their heads, Abrashoff stuck to his guns. In his mind he answered to his crew, and the taxpayers who were paying for his ship. Traditional practices of the Navy were of little importance to Abrashoff if there was a way to do things safer, more efficiently, or less expensive.

It’s Your Ship begins with Abrashoff reflecting on the day he assumed command of the USS Benfold. His predecessor was not the most highly regarded skipper and during the change of command ceremony, the departing skipper’s crew let him know exactly how they felt. “I can still feel my face flushing with embarrassment when I remember how some didn’t give him a respectful send-off” Abrashoff says in the book.

Abrashoff wasn’t worried about being liked as the Benfold’s new commander, all he really cared about was restoring the respect, trust, and effectiveness the former captain had lost.

During his first few weeks onboard the Benfold, Capt. Abrashoff begins implementing his belief that there is always a better way to do things. To improve the ships food he sent the cooks to culinary school, to prevent painting over rusty fastener stains on the superstructure of the vessel he ordered stainless steel fasteners instead (stainless steel is heavily resistant to rust).

Captain Abrashoff made a point of connecting directly with every crewmember on board his ship through conversation or formal interviews. What he discovered was an alarming number of individuals who couldn’t wait for their time in the Navy to come to an end.

Curious about the real reasons people wanted to leave the Navy, Abrashoff read exit interviews from Navy personnel who had not “re-enlisted” for another tour with the branch. His research revealed a large number of people leaving for unnecessary reasons:

They were not treated with respect.
They were unable to impact the organization.
They were not listened to.
They were not rewarded with more responsibility.

Armed with this new information, Abrashoff set out to retool his crew member’s perception of the Navy. He wanted them to realize that they were important, and they could make a difference. Captain Abrashoff made a commitment to listen to (and respect) any member of his crew who had an idea to improve the vessel. He cross trained various departments’ duties with each other, and gave entry level navy personnel responsibilities unheard of on other Naval vessels.

The book is packed full of useful managerial skills and ideas, suitable not only in a military environment, but in a corporate and family environment as well.

It may sound cliche’ but it’s true, It’s Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy is a great resource for anyone looking to improve their own leadership ability. It is an entertaining look inside the inner workings of the Navy and a perfect example of how traditional values can limit our ability to reach full potential.  If you want to take command of your leadership potential, you need to take command of this book.

There is an overabundance of highly educated scholars in the field of leadership that have very little managerial experience. Those having experience managing others did so at such a high level they were often disconnected from employees on the frontline.

If you’re looking to advance your ability to lead rather than theorize about it, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of Strengths-Based Leadership.

Strengths-Based Leadership is the culmination of 30 years of intensive research by Gallup Scientists as interpreted by best selling author Tom Rath and renowned leadership and performance coach Barry Conchie.

The authors of the book had access to over 40,000 personal interviews with leaders, 20,000 interviews with followers, and surveys from nearly one million work teams from around the world.

They discovered that teams were most successful when the “Four Leadership Domains” of Relationship Building, Strategic Thinking, Influencing, and Executing were covered.

To help you indentify your own strengths as a leader, the book comes with a code for a “free” leadership evaluation at www.strengthsfinder.com.

The leadership evaluation identifies your top 5 leadership strengths and guides you on applying these strengths to meet the four basic needs of your followers (Trust, Compassion, Stability, and Hope).

In Strengths-Based Leadership, Rath and Conchie identify the “Four Basic Needs of Followers” as part of the “Three Keys” to being a successful leader:

Knowing Your Strengths

Getting People with the Right Strengths on Your Team

Meeting the Four Basic Needs of Followers:

• Trust:  Do you keep your word as a leader?
• Compassion:  Do you have your workers’ best interests in mind?
• Stability:  Do your employees always know what to expect from you?
• Hope:  Are your employees inspired about the future?

Strengths-Based Leadershipprovides inspiring stories and actionable ideas to help reinforce the basis of the book. Not only is the book informative, but it is entertaining to read as well!

Having read so many leadership books over the years from self proclaimed “experts” in the field, it was a refreshing to read a book based on data rather than speculation from a professor isolated in an ivory tower while a student aid teaches her leadership class.

Many people confuse the relationship between responsibility and accountability as they relate to leadership. In many cases the two terms are used interchangeably to the detriment of a project’s outcome. To help clarify these terms, and improve your understanding of the leadership process, I will attempt to explain the difference between responsibility and accountability below.

RESPONSIBILITY:

When it comes to leadership, responsibility is the before-the-fact mindset of taking ownership for the results of a project or job. To be responsible, you must first acknowledge that action must be taken on a particular issue.

As a responsible leader, you must also acknowledge the task may require additional people to be completed effectively. To take ownership of a project, managers, supervisors, and individuals must first assume responsibility.

When a manager, supervisor, or individual accepts responsibility for a situation, she also accepts accountability for the result or outcome, good or bad.

In my professional career I have heard many people (including myself) complain about being responsible for a job but lacking the authority to take appropriate action. I have been responsible for many projects that would have been made much easier (and safer) if I had the authority to order better equipment or hire expert technicians, but I didn’t.

When you encounter a situation over which you have responsibility but do not have authority, you must contact whoever does have the authority and work out a way to complete the task and achieve the results. It’s all about involving the right people in the job!

ACCOUNTABILITY:

Accountability is the after-the-fact ownership of the results of your project. It is the commitment to honestly explain why things were done a particular way.

Example: If you ever find yourself in court answering questions about why an employee was injured under your leadership, you are being held accountable.

When results are poor, everyone (particularly managers and supervisors) should avoid blame and act immediately to correct the problem and learn from the experience to prevent it from happening again.

Accountability includes accepting the consequences of decisions made to meet a specific agreement between you and your direct supervisor.

In a team or group situation, people must clearly understand their own responsibilities and be individually and jointly accountable. Each individual brings a unique set of skills to a group and it is the responsibility of the leader(s) within this group to ensure these skills are effectively utilized. Additionally, the leader(s) within the group need to be held accountable if the results of the group do not meet the expectations of management.

It wasn’t until my freshman year in college that I truly began understanding the importance of leadership. I was attending Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, ME and was a member of the academy’s regiment of midshipmen. I was enrolled in the academy’s marine transportation program and looked forward to a career sailing around the world in the commercial shipping industry.

Any student pursuing a course of study at the academy leading to a merchant marine officer’s license was required to participate in the quasi-military structure that formed the basis of the regimental branch of the school.

Although not as severe as the “boot camps” enlisted men and women endure during their indoctrination into military service, freshman midshipmen (or MUGs as they are more affectionately known) receive their fair share of yelling, marching around, strict discipline, and other physical challenges. Essentially, the Regiment of Midshipmen was a tool for building leadership skills, confidence, and character.

I was nearing the end of my 6 week “indoctrination” period when one of my upper class training officers asked my “company” for volunteers for an upcoming Girl Scout Conference/Retreat the academy was hosting the following weekend.

These events had become a tradition at the academy because of the schools picturesque location on the Mid Coast of Maine, state of the art facilities, and plenty of “volunteers” to assist in running the event.

On this particular year, 150-200 Girl Scouts were expected to converge on the academy to participate in a variety of activities ranging from sailing and boating, oceanography, the solar system (the academy has a planetarium), crafts, and cooking.

I figured I had nothing to lose since I was stuck at school anyway, and since I hadn’t been a standout midshipman during the indoctrination period, I thought it might be a way to win back a little respect from the upperclassmen who supervised us.

Besides, I still wasn’t allowed to leave campus due to the restrictions imposed on new regimental members (being isolated to the academy, away from friends and family, helped simulate the isolation of being stuck on an ocean going vessel for months on end).

“I’ll do it” I said.

And with those three words I was penciled in along with a fellow MUG to teach a group of 8-10 year old Girl Scouts all about the life of a student at the academy and the importance of our quasi-military student structure.

In the few days leading up to my big gig, I wondered how I would hold the attention of my audience with such a “boring” subject. After all, the other activities these girls would be participating in (boating, oceanography, etc) where infinitively more attractive than learning about the life of a student of the regiment.

I drafted a quick outline of what I would say…I would talk about my daily routine of waking up early, reporting to cleaning stations, ironing my clothes, polishing my shoes, mustering in the field house, marching to class, marching from class, mustering in the field house again, etc. etc.. And after a few dry runs of my presentation, I figured I was ready to face the girls; or so I thought…

There I was standing, in front of my first group of 30 Girl Scouts the following morning. The session started off great with some very enthusiastic “Hellos” from the group. Unfortunately, the upbeat start to the morning was quickly squashed as I began my boring diatribe about the lowly life of a first year participant in the academy’s regimental program.

Finally, one of the girls spoke up and said “That’s silly, why do you all of that stuff when you could of gone to a “real” school?”

I was caught off guard and I didn’t really have a good answer for her. I knew what I wanted to say. I knew that the regiment instilled discipline, leadership skills, teamwork, and confidence, but I didn’t exactly know how let alone explain it to an 8 year old.

After another 10 minutes or so of babbling about my structured student life, the girls moved on to their next training session, and I felt like I had let them down.

I could see the next group of girls walking down the hill towards my location and knew I had to change my routine fast if I was going to avoid repeating the failure of my previous presentation. Then out of the blue, I had an idea. Instead of telling them about how the academy builds leadership and teamwork, I would actually show them.

As the next group of Girl Scouts assembled at my station I was once again greeted by some very enthusiastic “Hellos”, only this time I was going to keep this level of enthusiasm up throughout the entire presentation.

I asked the girls if they knew what leadership was. Although they were a bit timid, one of them eventually spoke up and said “it was telling people what to do”. I told here she was close but not exactly right. I explained to the group that leadership was about moving a group of people together towards a desired goal.

It was time to put my new idea into action.

“Today we are going to learn how to march” I said.

“The scout leaders had suspicious looks on their faces as if to say, “Hey, we didn’t sign our girls up for this”.

I avoided being harsh (as my upper class training officers had been with me), but I encouraged the girls to form three rows of 10 people each. Once I had them spaced out evenly I started them off with the simple exercise of marching in place, instep with one another, to my cadence.

“Left…left…left, right, left…” I kept repeating this line until all the girls where marching together, and instep.

Next was the task of getting the girls to stop marching at the same time. This was a little tricky, but after a few trial runs we were able to get our timing right to stop on the same foot at the same time.

I continued instructing the girls in about faces (turning around), and keeping their distance while they marched all over campus; we even came up with a “Girl Scout Company” cheer.

To my surprise, the girls really enjoyed learning to march in step with one another. As they mastered each element of the exercise you could see the sense of accomplishment in their voices and facial expressions. They really enjoyed working together as a team and marching around campus to show off their teamwork. They were proud.

So why was learning to march such a big deal? Every one of these girls knew how to walk, stop, turnaround, and cheer, but it was my expertise and leadership I had gained marching around under the direction of upperclassman that brought the Girl Scouts together as one. Although it may sound foolish to some, this exercise in teamwork is exactly what leadership is all about.

As word spread among the other Girl Scout Groups about how great the “leadership session” was, the troop leader from the first group of girls (the ones I had failed earlier in the morning) asked me why I didn’t march her girls around the campus.

I apologized and told her I originally thought marching was a tool the academy used to discipline freshman and instill a sense of respect for their upperclassman. However, after the excellent questions asked by a scout in her group I realized that marching (as well as the other “disciplinary” tasks freshman were responsible for) served a much greater purpose.

It provided a laboratory for the upperclassman to polish their leadership skills and instill a sense of accomplishment and confidence among my classmates and me.

The scout leader accepted my apology, and also accepted my invitation to take her girls marching around campus at the end of the day before they went home!

Not only had I instilled a sense of accomplishment in the girls, I had created a valuable learning experience for myself. It has been my goal ever since to replicate the experience in every task I undertake. Sometime I am successful, other times I am not.