Trustworthiness is made up of three components:
- Ability
- Integrity
- Benevolence
These three elements are multiplied, so if you do poorly with one of them, people are not going to trust you. If you deliver, but you're not honest or you act cruelly, you will not be trusted.
There are nine behavioral habits, which an article on the management-issues.com website claims to stem from the three principles mentioned above.
- Ability (deliver, coach, be consistent)
- Integrity (honesty, openness, humility)
- Benevolence (kindness, bravery, evangelism)
The ability to deliver is only one of nine habits that you need to inspire trust in your colleagues. So delivery accounts for only about 11 % of what you must have to become a trusted manager. Most of CEOs probably believe that delivery is let say 80%.
So if you want to build a trustworthy reputation, don’t forget about all the other parts – delivering on your promises is only an entry-level requirement. What are some of the other requirements?
- Coaching: you are able to help others to deliver on their promises as well
- Integrity: you are honest, open and humble
- Bravery (moral): you are willing to make personal sacrifices
- Evangelism: You share your vision and the good news with passion
- Kindness: You go above and beyond the profit motive and are able to deliver acts of kindness to others
Furthermore, nothing can be hidden today. The industrial revolution empowered companies. The social-media revolution is empowering individuals. With social media, everyone has a powerful voice.
-jk-