What does it take to earn your team’s trust and loyalty? How can you create the kind of leadership presence that inspires confidence and engagement?
Building trust as a leader is both an art and a science, as revealed in The Way of the Shepherd by Kevin Leman and William Pentak. Their wisdom parallels effective leadership and shepherding, offering practical strategies for creating strong, trusting relationships with your team.
Keep reading to learn how to build trust as a leader through three essential practices.
Building Trust as a Leader
Leman and Pentak explain that one of the most important sacrifices leaders make is investing the time and effort to build trust with their team. Teams with high levels of trust will be more engaged and productive, less prone to conflict, and more likely to listen to your instructions and feedback. A trusting team will follow its leader willingly, just like a flock of sheep follows its shepherd. We’ll cover the authors’ three-part advice on how to build trust as a leader: knowing and understanding your workers, creating a sense of safety, and staying visible to your workers.
(Shortform note: Research has found that trust between team members can be just as important as trust between workers and their leaders. A review of over 112 independent studies on over 7,000 teams found a positive correlation between intra-team trust and performance. This not only supports Leman and Pentak’s high valuation of trust, but also suggests the importance of working to cultivate a culture of trust across your entire organization.)
#1: Know Your Workers
According to Leman and Pentak, your workers will only trust you if they feel like you know them on a personal level. When workers feel recognized, understood, and valued, they’ll open up to building a more trusting relationship with their leader. The authors offer two main strategies for getting to know your workers: form one-on-one connections and stay up-to-date on their well-being.
Form One-on-One Connections
According to Leman and Pentak, leaders must get to know their workers by cultivating one-on-one relationships with their employees. Not only will you learn more about each of your workers, but the individual attention will show them that you value them as a member of the team. For example, you could schedule regular coffee chats with each team member to discuss their goals and challenges. Leman and Pentak assert that while it may seem time-consuming, these personal relationships increase employee loyalty, engagement, and productivity.
(Shortform note: Business experts offer some tips on how to conduct effective one-on-one meetings with your supervisees. First, establish a regular schedule and create collaborative agendas in advance. Choose a comfortable, private location to encourage open dialogue. During the meeting, practice active listening, provide constructive feedback, and remain flexible while addressing key points. Encourage your team members to share their thoughts and concerns freely. Conclude each session by summarizing the discussion and establishing clear action items. Finally, improve these meetings over time by regularly seeking feedback from your supervisee and adjusting your approach as needed.)
Stay Up to Date on the Well-Being of Your Team
Leman and Pentak emphasize that in getting to know their workers, leaders must maintain a keen awareness of—not only the work being done, but also the well-being of their team. The emotional, physical, and mental states of your workers significantly impact performance and overall team dynamics. Thus, true leaders will stay aware of their workers’ condition.
For instance, a perceptive manager might notice that a usually enthusiastic employee seems withdrawn and less productive. In response, they might check in with this employee through a private conversation to address any personal or professional concerns.
(Shortform note: Some business experts argue that to maintain awareness of the condition of your team, it’s essential to pay attention to body language. Facial expressions, posture, and vocal tone play a crucial role in expressing mood. Facial expressions such as frowning, grimacing, or jaw clenching often indicate tension or frustration. Restless behaviors like finger tapping or leg shaking may signal nervousness or impatience. Difficulty maintaining eye contact or frequent gaze shifts can suggest discomfort or uncertainty. Finally, changes in vocal patterns, including alterations in tone, pitch, or speed, can indicate that the person’s feeling insecure or anxious.)
#2: Make Sure Your Workers Know You
In addition to making sure you know your workers, Leman and Pentak write that you must make sure your workers know you, just as a sheep always recognizes its shepherd. They provide two strategies for doing so: stay visible and lead by example.
Stay Visible
First, Leman and Pentak emphasize the importance of remaining visible to your workers. This could take the form of regularly walking through the office, an open-door policy where people can visit your office anytime, company Q&A sessions, or participation in company events. By maintaining a visible presence, leaders can provide reassurance, demonstrate their commitment to the team’s well-being, and foster a sense of stability within the organization, thereby building trust and confidence among employees.
(Shortform note: Some research confirms the importance of “visibility” in building trust, especially in communication. One study compared trust between teams that communicated using four methods of communication: in person, through video chat, through audio chat, and through text messages. Face-to-face communication led to the highest levels of trust while texting led to the lowest. Video chat was almost as good as in person, and audio chat came in third.)
Lead by Role-Modeling
Leman and Pentak emphasize that great leaders establish trust by role-modeling integrity. Integrity consists of aligning your actions with your values, even when it’s challenging or inconvenient. For example, a supervisor might demonstrate integrity by openly admitting to an error in a project and taking responsibility for its correction. This sets an example of honesty and accountability for their workers to follow. Or a team leader might set an example of fairness by consistently acknowledging and rewarding good performance across the team, regardless of personal relationships or favorites. This helps employees get to know you by seeing your values in action while deepening their trust in your leadership.
(Shortform note: When role-modeling your values to build trust with your employees, note that trust itself is one of those values you can role-model. According to M.R. Covey in The Speed of Trust, managers who trust their employees are more likely to be trusted by them in return. Furthermore, employees who feel trusted are also more likely to rise to the occasion when it comes to work challenges to keep from betraying your trust. Demonstrating trust in your employees could come in the form of giving them higher levels of responsibility and decision-making, or more autonomy in their approach to the work.)
#3: Create a Sense of Safety
Finally, Leman and Pentak argue that building trust requires a sense of safety. Your workers need to feel that your company is a safe environment for them to truly trust you as a leader. The authors discuss two strategies for building a sense of safety on your team: standing up for your workers and bailing them out of trouble, and addressing conflicts and problems as they arise.
(Shortform note: Some business experts support Leman and Pentak’s emphasis on creating a sense of safety. Research has shown that psychological safety can lead to greater engagement, motivation, and willingness to take risks and voice opinions. When employees voice their perspectives, this also allows the team to consider a wider range of perspectives and ideas, which can lead to improved problem-solving.)
Stand Up for Your Workers
Leman and Pentak argue that great leaders create safety by actively standing up for their workers, just like a shepherd protects their flock. Employees are more likely to trust you if they feel they can count on you for protection and help in times of crisis. For example, a department manager might defend her team’s innovative but unconventional approach to a project when faced with criticism from upper management. She might do so by explaining the rationale behind the team’s decisions and highlighting the potential benefits. By advocating for her team in this way, the manager not only shields them from undue criticism but also reinforces their trust in her leadership, knowing she’ll support their efforts even in challenging situations.
(Shortform note: In prioritizing the safety and protection of your workers, it’s important not to over-stretch yourself. Business experts caution that managers are especially prone to burnout, a state of chronic exhaustion, under-motivation, and cynicism. Overall, burnout seems to result from a mismatch between job demands and the resources available to meet those demands—there’s too much to be done and not enough time, energy, and tools with which to do it, and this “over-taxing” adds up over time.)
Address Conflicts and Problems as They Arise
Leman and Pentak explain that creating a sense of safety also requires addressing conflicts and problems as they arise instead of allowing them to escalate unchecked. Even small problems can escalate over time, creating friction and stress for the entire team. By addressing these before they get out of control, you’ll maintain a safe and trusting environment on your team. For example, say a team leader notices growing tension between two team members due to a disagreement over project responsibilities. Instead of hoping the issue will resolve itself, the leader could promptly schedule a meeting with both individuals to clarify roles and resolve the tension, preventing the conflict from escalating.
(Shortform note: Resolving conflict between your employees may place you in the role of a mediator—a neutral third party who tries to settle disputes between others. Business experts recommend that mediators adopt the following approach: First, both parties should meet with you so you can outline the process, rules, and goals. Then each person involved in the conflict briefly presents their view without interruption, after which you gather information and identify common ground. Participants then suggest specific actions they’d like to see from others. The session concludes with all parties agreeing on and committing to changes that will resolve the conflict.)
