Trust in leaders? Only if they are listening…

What would you do in this situation?
An experienced, older technician with a long record of success begins to perform poorly: sloppy work, disinterested attitude. You have had several discussions with little improvement. What would you do?
Trust him to resolve his own issues? Keep sending her to clients while hoping nothing goes wrong? Or would you take strong disciplinary action, and risk losing them, or risk showing disrespect by telling them exactly what to do? Tough leadership is not very trusting is it?…
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Must we always trust others? In leadership, trust has many names: delegation, empowerment, teamwork. Philosophically, we like the idea of trusting people, but trusting successfully is harder than it sounds.

Leaders who do not trust tend towards two extremes – micro-managing or hoping. At one extreme, they stand over someone’s shoulder and watch them do every small step. Or, they simply handover complete control and cross their fingers (“come back to me when it’s done”). Either way, they may not be using their interpersonal brain.

What managers do least effectively is assessing others and reacting to what they see. Without assessment through observation, effective questioning and listening, managers operate based on habit or urgency.
In our ‘experienced technician’ example, we are challenged to see a familiar employee in a new light – underperformance. People and circumstances do change, but managers who fail to assess regularly do not change.

In this situation, there are many good reasons for doing nothing – for hoping.
You might say to yourself: “the current problem is temporary - a lapse”; “by the time I deal with it, I will blow it out of proportion”; “the problem is not that serious anyway”. Too much trust?

We could justify taking sharp action – “failure cannot be tolerated”; “we cannot play favourites no matter how loyal”; “standards must be maintained”. So we reprimand, then micromanage, or get someone else to do it, or even do it ourselves. No trust?

Either way, the employee involved is likely to lose. They will fail by drowning (too much expectation), or fail by suffocation (not enough air / independence).

Trust, handled well, strengthens. Trust used poorly, weakens.

So, what should we do with this technician?
Let’s review our assessment:
• skilled, but failing - more training won’t help.
• experienced, but failing - a pep talk, or glossy, motivational
hype won’t help (for long).
• communicating, but not getting to the heart of the matter –
no change.
I have spoken with many managers on this issue, and the less assertive ones often take the position of the employee. They believe they cannot make life more difficult by being tough. It would only build resentment and make things worse.

What these less assertive managers do not consider is that employees rarely take the perspective of the manager. They have little trouble with making life difficult for the manager.
If the employee keeps failing, who will receive the complaint? Who will be challenged about how this situation was managed? Where is the employee’s effort to support the manager? Doesn’t the manager deserve this too?

Problems are usually two-way, which is why developing trust through deeper conversations are needed. Through conversation, ask open questions to encourage them to explain what is behind the change in their performance. And listen to the answers.

The more open and willing they are to share, the easier it will be to make a good assessment, which can lead to solutions that both of you can accept.
The more closed and unwilling to share, the less trust is possible, and greater micro-management is necessary. You cannot fix it, if you do not understand it. And employees must accept the consequences of staying silent.

Takeaways:
• leadership style is about how you spend your time – spend
more time with people, give the computer screen and reports
a rest more often.
• ask more open questions – “what? / how?”; “what? / how?”
• then listen

We all know this is nothing new. Most people have the skills.
It is the willingness, the courage, the discipline to stop talking and make your own mind quiet long enough to hear what the other person is really saying - beyond their initial comments.

And if this type of communication is not your normal practice, make listening a normal style, now, before things go wrong. It is unconvincing to suddenly be the listener in a crisis.

We earn trust!