7 leadership behaviours that create trust in a team

Leadership isn't a personality trait. It's a set of behaviours, and the good news is behaviours can be learned. You don't need the title, the office or the salary to get a team to follow you. What you need is one thing, and it's within reach of anyone willing to work on it: Trust.

Trust is non-negotiable. Without it, you can't drive your team to achieve greatness. Think about it for a moment. Do you want to go into work every day and be led by someone who doesn't respect or match your values? If you don't believe they've got your best interest at heart, growth is next to impossible.

There needs to be trust and respect between leaders and teams. When leaders show they care by making their team feel appreciated and secure, true collaboration and growth happens.

A leader is only as effective as his (or her) team

Trust is the foundation of every good relationship. So, as leaders, how can you earn the trust of your team? Let's go through seven strategies.

1. Be an example. Set the tone for how you want your team to interact, communicate and perform by acting that way yourself. If you want your team members to act a certain way, you've got to lead by example. This goes for the small stuff, too. How you handle a bad day, a tense meeting or a missed deadline tells your team more than any policy document ever will.

2. Talk it through, a lot. Most of the issues that occur in workplaces are due to a lack of communication. Transparency builds trust. Be direct, honest and make space for open dialogue between you and your team. Don't assume that John told Gill about that important client feedback. Carve out time every day to connect, communicate, and collaborate. If something's changing, say so early. People can handle bad news. What erodes trust is finding out later that you knew and stayed quiet.

3. Allow room for mistakes. Mistakes are, in fact, a good thing. It's only in the setbacks that you can apply strategies that'll help you learn and grow. If you create a culture that gives room for mistakes, it also takes the pressure off. We're all human, and it's important to remember this. Make sure your team feels secure enough that if there's a problem or issue, they can come to you first, not last.

4. Do what you say you will. Your word is everything. This is something many of us forget. You should honour every word like it’s a social contract. From the small things like arriving on time to bigger promises like offering training to employees, sticking to your word instils that trust. If circumstances change and you can't deliver, tell people why. Silence is what damages the relationship, not the setback itself.

5. Ask for feedback. Empower your team by asking their opinions. All of us learn as we go, so ask your people to voice their successes, weaknesses, and ideas. Ask them if there's a better way to operate. Be open to their suggestions and action the good ones.

6. Give credit where it's due. Recognise effort and results publicly, and own failures privately. Teams notice fast when a leader takes credit for wins and passes blame for losses. Flip that, and you build a loyalty that no salary review can buy.

7. Be consistent, especially under pressure. Anyone can be a good leader on an easy day. Trust is built in the hard weeks – the tight deadlines, budget cuts, and difficult conversations etc. If your standards, tone and fairness hold steady when things get stressful, your team learns they can rely on you no matter what's happening around them.

Listen, be consistent and put the success of your team before your own. By doing all these things, in time you'll build a group of people that trust and respect you. This is your best sales, recruitment and growth tool.

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