Integrity gets
lost…one degree of dishonesty at a time. There are no varying degrees of integrity.
A leader is judged to have integrity or not based on what is seen. Minor lies
can become a major problem. As minor as lies may seem, employees do not forget
integrity mistakes.There are 6 key
ways a leader can earn employees trust:Be honest and
supportive. Even when it’s difficult, tell the truth and not just what you
think people want to hear. Understand what employees need to know and
communicate facts while being considerate of their effort and sensitive to
their feelings. Showing support and understanding for your team members, even
when mistakes are made. It goes a long way in building trust as a leader. Be transparent.
Transparency opens the door for honest conversations, collaboration, and
respect. It can help take some of the mystery and skepticism out of the
workplace that leads to feelings of mistrust. Consistent and regular
communications should be a priority for trustworthy leaders, and the
communication is best when it’s timely, relevant, and focused on what employees
need to know and why, so they have context. Be consistent. Consistently
doing what you say you’ll do builds trust over time – it can’t be something you
do only occasionally. Keeping commitments must be the essence of your behavior,
in all relationships, day after day and year after year. Model the
behavior you seek. Nothing speaks more loudly about the culture of an
organization than the leader’s behavior, which influences employee action and
has the potential to drive their results. If you say teamwork is important,
reinforce the point by collaborating across teams and functions. Give credit
when people do great work and you’ll set the stage for an appreciative culture.Build in
accountability. When you and other leaders acknowledge your mistakes as well as
successes, employees see you as credible and will follow your lead. You can
encourage honest dialogue and foster accountability by building in processes
that become parts of the culture, such as an evaluation of every project
(positives, negatives, things to change) or a status report and next steps in
each meeting agenda (tracking deadlines and milestones). Extend empathy
to others. Leaders who pause and imagine how employees truly feel build a lot
of trust. Show employees that you hear them and validate their feelings. The
payoff is an employee who knows you care; at the same time, you gather
information that’s useful to motivating that employee.It all starts
with integrity. Your employees will follow only if you have earned their trust!
Integrity is Doing the Right Things Even When No One is Looking
