#15 – Trust Is A Two-way Street

During a meeting, one of my team leaders asked what the best way is to prevent star performers from leaving? Trust, I replied. We all know that trust is a two-way street, but how do you go about building it in your organization? This issue’s newsletter offers some tips.

Trust is more than an idea; it is a feeling. If you want your team members to trust you, be honest and transparent about what’s going on in the business, the decisions you’re making, etc. I believe that if you only share information when there are no other options left, it will be impossible for them to trust you fully or feel at ease sharing concerns with you.

Leaders need to be trustworthy, but it’s also equally crucial to earning that trust from those around them. There are many ways to build trust with your team members. One of them includes having open communication. You can do this through weekly meetings in which you discuss what’s going on in the company and other relevant topics. Another way to build this kind of relationship is by ensuring that everyone feels like they have an opportunity for growth and development within their current role. Furthermore, it is needed to provide them with opportunities to grow professionally outside the scope of their defined roles.

You need to return the trust if you want to earn it. It’s a delicate balance. Trusting someone who hasn’t proven to be worthy of it can lead to disappointment and disillusionment. It takes time, effort, and patience for trust to develop organically between two people (or more).

Trusting your team members doesn’t mean you don’t set expectations or boundaries; It means you do these things consciously and respectfully because you value them enough to invest time into developing a good working relationship with each person on your team.

Sincerely, thank you for reading,

Arijit