The Keys to Leading During a Time of Extreme Mistrust
We are, unfortunately, living at a time of extremely low trust, in institutions, government, media, and the list goes on.
The polarization that has occurred in society, culture, and families is heartbreaking.
Some of the markers of the erosion of trust include:
The great resignation,
An increasing number of individuals disconnecting from social media,
The lowest number of trust in mainstream media, as well as viewership as individuals, seek alternative sources of information,
Increasing levels of mental disorders in a wide age range including an increase in depression and suicide,
Widening gap in early childhood learning in reading and social skills leading to mistrust in education, schools, school administration, teachers, and unions,
A growing sense of “tribalism” that is cultivated to gain or keep power and ultimately breed mistrust,
A breakdown in family and social systems from isolation and fear; and/or an inability to engage in healthy dialogues.
There are more, but I’ll stop. I believe I’ve made my point and unless you live under a rock (which may not be a bad idea) you likely can relate.
How do we, you and me, lead during this time when trust is shattered? Can we? Can I?
I have to say that I struggle with this question often. Daily at times. Yet, I can’t just roll over and hide because I can’t. Why? Because I am concerned for my family. I am terrified about my grandchildren’s future. And I am driven to show up authentically, truly authentically, and try and help individuals and organizations who truly are positively engaged to do it right.
The Essence of Trust
What do we know about trust?
For trust to exist begins with YOU
Trust doesn’t happen because of who you are, the position you hold, or the organization you are in (in some respect the organization you are in can be a determent to you being trusted (I know my perception of individuals are impacted by affiliation, and I have severed my affiliation with organizations because I did not trust what they were doing, how they were doing it or their actions were counter to their words)
How each of view trust, is driven by our experience in trust experiences
ONCE TRUST IS BROKEN it is EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO REGAIN (Yikes)
Building Trust
For those of us who have broken trust or have trust issues whether it be with individuals, organizations, or institutions; establishing trust is no easy task; reestablishing trust is even more difficult.
I offer the following pillars to building trust. None of the following are particularly Wowable, yet I find each hard to sustain by many organizations and individuals when ego, power, and greed cloud judgment.
As you review the following pillars, I encourage you to assess a current situation where trust is a struggle against each of the pillars. Doing so will provide insight on why trust is not working and potentially how it could be improved moving forward.
Build strong relationships – Doing so allows for greater understanding and less chance for misunderstanding to occur
Show respect – trust is earned, respect is earned with every interaction, however small. Your position does not excuse a lack of demonstrating respect.
Demonstrate empathy – This must be authentic to be believed. False empathy is incredibly revealing of a lack of character
Keep confidence – nothing destroys trust more than not doing this
Share information – often individuals hoard information believing the information is power. If the information you are hoarding is the only thing you’ve got, eventually individuals will stop seeking you out.
Cultivate collaboration – This is such a struggle for so many organizations to achieve. In the final analysis, the ones demanding greater collaboration are the ones that are the greatest resistors to collaboration.
Trust is not easy to establish, much less to sustain in any relationship much less organization. When I have a trust conversation with an individual, it usually starts out with, “Yes I do these things really well!” This is then followed by me pressing the individual to consider challenging relationships where trust is absent or could be strengthened. This is when it begins to get interesting. Many times, this leads to the individual engaging in finger point – it is the other person’s fault for the lack of trust. This may be true to a degree; however, it takes two to dance.