Trust is like gold in leadership. Without it a leader will fail to build a healthy following. Developing trust takes time. It is seldom granted with position alone. Most people have been injured in relationships that keeps them from trusting blindly. But, developing trust is critical for leaders to pursue and maintain.
In full disclosure, I’m 7 months into a new leadership position as this post is written. I recognize that with many in the church I pastor, I’m still developing levels of trust.
How does a leader develop trust?
Here are four suggestions:
- A Compassion for others that is personal and goes beyond what they bring to the team.
- A Competence in a subject matter, or a willingness to yield to those who know more than the leader knows about a subject.
- A Consistent approach or methodology, as well as consistency in character, that can be depended on through good and bad times.
- A clear and frequent Communication process that shares in transparency and full disclosure.
