Last week in Episode 19, we discovered that more than anything, your team wants to trust in leadership. I mentioned that according to a survey run by ToleroSolutions, Scott Span found that 45% of respondents believed that a lack of trust in leadership was impacting their work performance. Have you taken a look at the science of trust?
Why don’t we trust each other? Certainly, there’s the small matter of track-record. If you’ve screwed over the last eight direct reports, coworkers or friends, then I might be a bit hesitant to throw my proverbial hat in the ring with you. But say you don’t have a horrible track record that should dissuade others. There is still a fear that comes with trust because trust often implies cooperation and, as Paul Zak and Ken Nowack noted (link below), cooperating with others puts us at risk of exploitation. That could be in friendship, romance or working together on a project team.
Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman said “high-performance ratings went with being trusted. Being trusted emanates from good interpersonal skills. Strong collaborators were excellent communicators and were held up as role models. Some individuals strive to stand out by working independently so that it’s clear who deserves the credit. Our data suggest those individuals typically fail. The highest performers, on the other hand, cooperated with other groups and were trusted in making decisions.”
There are four key dimensions impacting how much a person will respect and trust another person. Paul and Ken took ideas from Professors Amy Cuddy, Roger Mayer and David Schoorman and boiled this down into the four C’s.
The Four C’s of Interpersonal Trust:
- Capability: knowledge and skills
- Caring: display empathy, warmth and caring about my wants and needs
- Candor: follow through on your promises and not deceive me
- Consistency: predictable, dependable, reliable, and minimizing surprises
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Brain Trust in Talent Economy, Vol 2, Issue 1, Winter 2017 by Kenneth Nowak and Paul J. Zak
How To Improve At Work When You’re Not Getting Feedback by Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman
Great quotes from this episode:
“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” – John C. Maxwell
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