How to Reinforce Your Leadership Against the Erosion of Trust

Dust. Drought. Death. In the 1930s, the vibrant lands of Oklahoma, Colorado, Nebraska, and Texas were not managed well resulting in massive erosion so severe that crops would not grow, incomes were lost, and people migrated away en masse. This area became known as the Dust Dowl.

Today, we are leading and living in a time of massive erosion of a different sort – the erosion of trust. Almost every sector of our culture has been impacted – government, education, business, publishing, financial services, medicine, and church. Our country, our organizations, and our work teams depend upon trust – the belief that each of us will live up to the expectations we have of one another. So, when trust erodes, effectiveness erodes with it. Here are the top causes of the erosion of trust and what we can do to stop it.

How Trust Erodes

1. Deceptive Behavior

I recently read multiple stories about deception. One was a case where a young man was impersonating a doctor and saw hundreds of patients. Another involved a business school grad who conned fellow alumni into investing in what investigators labeled a $2.9 million Ponzi scheme. Still another was about a high school teacher having an inappropriate relationship with a student. Deception has been around as long as humans have existed. And so has the damage it causes to trust.

2. Self-serving Behavior

A deceptive person is always self-serving, but not all self-serving behavior is deceptive. As consultants, we have seen far too many cases of self-serving leadership. Examples include leaders looking out for their own financial well-being while ignoring the needs of the organization, managers taking credit for the effort and success produced by others in order to make themselves look good, or leaders clinging to their positions and titles too long thereby hindering the organization from moving forward.

3. Failure to Follow Through

Anyone who has lived more than a few years can give examples of someone not doing what they said they would do. A leader makes a promise to do something but doesn’t do it. A manager said she would get you that pay increase, but it never happens. Your teammate says he will get back to you for a lunch meeting date, but it never comes. The examples are countless. Failure to follow through is so prolific that people are no longer surprised by it – it is just assumed.

4. Unintentional Mistakes

I was talking with someone who had volunteered to serve at a nonprofit after seeing a request for help. They never heard back from the organization, and two of their friends who also volunteered had the same experience. The nonprofit may have been busy, understaffed, or lacking adequate systems for managing volunteers, but those things don’t matter when it comes to trust. Even though the mistakes were likely unintentional, the trustworthiness of the staff and the organization were eroded.

4 Fastest Ways to Reinforce Trust in Leadership

Once trust has eroded, it can be difficult to rebuild. Here are four of the fastest ways to reinforce trust.

1. Never fudge the truth.

Have you ever caught someone stretching the truth? For example, hiding mistakes, saying they responded to an email, or denying inappropriate behavior? Albert Einstein said, “Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.” Exaggeration or intentional misinformation are common behaviors avoided by highly trusted individuals. Few things erode trust faster than a lie or even excessive exaggeration.  

2. Acknowledge your mistakes.

On an episode of The Big Podcast with Shaq, the NBA star told Jason Kelce, the retired Philadelphia Eagles center: “I made a lot of dumba** mistakes to where I lost my family and didn’t have anyone. I was an idiot… I lost my whole family. I’m in a 100,000-square-foot house by myself.” When a leader is quick to own their mistakes, others are more likely to believe in them, trust them, and even mirror ownership of their own mistakes.

3. Look out for others.

Servant-leaders take the needs of those they serve seriously, sometimes putting those needs ahead of their own. I have worked with many leaders and business owners who went far beyond what most would do in looking out for both employees and clients. One gave a car to an employee who could not afford one. Another financially honored multiple employees after selling the business. And another gave a poorly performing employee several chances to improve, even providing coaching. These leaders reinforce trust by genuinely caring for others.

4. Do what you promise.

When I had an MRI at a local hospital (nothing serious!), it was the first time a hospital gave me a clear and definitive answer before the procedure regarding what it would cost. The hospital called it a “Price Hot Line,” and the employee even guaranteed the exact price I would pay. And he delivered on his promise! I have told dozens of others this story because having people do what they promise seems to be in limited supply. When we follow through on what we commit to do, others will trust us even more. And as trust grows, so does our credibility and influence.

Contact us to learn more about how you can build a culture of trust within your team.

Jay Desko is the President & CEO of The Center Consulting Group and brings experience in the areas of organizational assessment, leadership coaching, decision-making, and strategic questioning. Jay’s degrees include an M.Ed. in Instructional Systems Design from Pennsylvania State University and a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior and Leadership from The Union Institute.