Trust (and thus leadership) is like a bank account – you’re constantly crediting or debiting (thanks for the analogy, Andy). Either making a deposit by building trust through your reliability, care, communication, etc., or debiting by commission or omission – failure to be reliable, making an unnecessarily harsh critique because you’re in a bad mood, etc.
Great leaders build up their account with their team over time. Occasionally leaders may need to make a withdrawal – they may need to withhold information for good reason, or make a tough decision that will hurt some members. That can usually be weathered as long as you’ve built up enough credits that you don’t go into the negative.
And, the more credits you have, aka the higher your trust account, the more capital you’re generating passively. Human capital – an engaged and committed team who bring their full self to the task. Social capital – a sterling reputation with your clients and in the marketplace, which is a differentiator. And potentially even financial capital as your owners and investors have a stronger emotional tie to your business and your vision.
So, leader, what is the status of your accounts? Where is there an unnecessary drain of debits through your careless behavior? Where do you need to be more intentional about building them up?
BUILT TO LEAD 