Is Your Leadership Team Lacking in Trust?

How much do your business leaders really trust their colleagues?

How is the level of trust in your business? If it seems to be lacking, or you’re not sure it’s as great as it can be, you may already be in trouble.
According to a new survey conducted by researchers at the London Business School and MIT’s Sloan School of Management, senior management teams are not as trusting as they should be in the abilities of their colleagues in other departments. Senior management indicated that they only trust their colleagues to deliver on their needs 10 percent of the time.
Although single employees may be able to deliver on expectations, there are often organizational issues in the business that prevent workers from following through consistently. When leaders don’t follow through on a plan for a project employees begin to lose trust in their leader and the organization. When leaders don’t trust their colleagues to help take on work, nothing gets done.
By eliminating these issues, better communication, trust and delegation capabilities can be created. This can be achieved with the following three tips:

1. Be clear in expectations of work deadlines: When communicating, give a hard yes or no in terms of when work is to be completed. When there is a delay in answering emails or phone calls, important information can fall to the wayside. Once commitment is expressed, stick to it.
2. Create a clear, holistic picture of business goals: If employees don’t understand why certain expectations are made or what needs to be prioritized first, issues will continue. In this same line of thought, the survey found that only one-third of respondents could identify the projected goals of their CEO. When this occurs, employees are unable to fit their goals into prioritized lines of vision, hindering the work process as a whole. By keeping clear goal in mind, delegation practices can be improved.
3. Remain reliable: Once you make a commitment, stick to it. By doing this, the reliability of your entire team will be increased and work can be completed in a more timely manner.

Investing in employee development programs is another way to enhance the abilities of your team.
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