The Hindu Business Line : <I>It's built on trust </I>

Today's leaders strive to win in the face of rapid changes in the market, competition, technology and business conditions. They rely on their teams and the teams rely on their leadership to succeed. Even in this new age, one of the foundations for superior teamwork and leadership is the age-old mantra of trust. For a young leader looking for a critical area to focus on, trust building should be a top priority.

In life, successful relationships in family and friends are built on trust. It applies equally to an organisational context, with the extension that trust needs to be nurtured in three important mutual directions: Leader-Team, Team Member - Team Member and Team-External World.

The leaders need people whom they can trust to stand by their commitments and deliver. They need this trust at all times, but more so during testing times, when everyone needs to rise to their best.

Leaders get people they can trust by being themselves trustworthy for the team members in the first place. A team expects several things of its leader — vision, guidance, inspiration and recognition — but none greater than the confidence to trust. Such a trust is built by actions which speak louder than words.

The performance of a team depends not only on the trust with the leader but equally also amongst the team members. There are situations where the leader may not necessarily be involved and it is up to the members to collaborate and win for the team. If a few of them lack mutual trust, they will either not work together or operate inefficiently requiring the leader to intervene. Thus the leader's time spent at the beginning to create trust amongst the team members is well worth it. As the team matures, it solves such issues by senior people taking up the responsibility to help those who need that support.

No team works in isolation. It works with external teams within the same company or in another customer or partner company. For a team to be truly successful, it needs to earn the trust of the external world and reciprocate it. We sometimes hear people commending or criticising about doing business with a company, which reflects on the trustworthiness of the leader and the team. Some companies never learn to collaborate with industry leaders due to their unwillingness to trust and pay the price in terms of business failure.

In a dynamic career, one works with diverse people, challenges and opportunities. The time taken to build the trust at every stage of this journey is an investment that will ultimately return the biggest value for the leader and the organisation.

More Stories on : People | Management | Leader Speak

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