Karl Edwards presents Working Matters

Tag: trust

  • Listen In -> Faking Authenticity #1: Trying to Buy Credibility Cheap

    Authenticity is the new credibility.

    More than competence. Much more than credentials. Exponentially more than position on the organizational chart.

    Those who are real. Those who shoot straight. Those whose words and actions are consistent with each other. These are the people who wield influence. These are the people who can make things happen. These are the people who earn the trust of subordinates, peers, vendors and clients alike.

    Join us for our new podcast series on Faking Authenticity. Sure enough, as soon as research demonstrates the effectiveness of any new leadership technique, onto the playing field spill all those leaders who want the results without taking seriously the means.

    Even though everyone around these pretenders can recognize intuitively and instantly that they are faking it, there is a group of us who are convinced we can pull one over on everyone and “technique” our way into results.

    Chat with us as we laugh and cry together about the benefits and pitfalls of authenticity both when genuine and when faked.

    Faking Authenticity

    Week #1: Trying to Buy Credibility Cheap

    Week #2: When Wanting to Impress

    Week #3: When Wanting to Confront

    Week #4: When Wanting to Perform

    Week #5: When Wanting Others to Respond

    Listen In.

  • Why Would I Trust You With My Future?

    We are asserting that your firm’s success might be deeply connected to the success of your individual team members. (Be sure to catch up on the entire series Influencing Others.)

    Imagine how much more committed to the company’s goals employees would be if they believed you were committed to helping them achieve their career goals. They’d go all-out for you.

    Let’s say you rewrote your job description to include a responsibility to help your key players reach their professional goals whether or not those goals involved staying in your employ. What a great leader you’d be, right?! You wouldn’t know what to do with all the loyalty and energy and dedication that would result.

    BUT

    And this is a big but.

    It’s not really safe to tell you
    my professional aspirations, is it?

    If you knew I was working my way toward a transfer to another department, a credential for another field, a transition to another part of the country, or a promotion that would complicate your own plans, would you really choose to use that knowledge for my benefit? Or would your commitment to yourself and the firm take over and ultimately use the information against me?

    Even if you could resist the temptation, is there any reason for me to trust you? After all, you have the power in the relationship. The risk of revealing my career aspirations is entirely mine.

    Think about it.

    What could you do to build trust and create a safe environment for everyone to celebrate and support each others’ career trajectories regardless whether they involve each other?

    Wouldn’t three to five years of over-the-top engagement be better than ten to fifteen years of squeezing out the-bare-minimum?

  • Trust the Employees or Trust the Controls?

    What would happen if you made additional tools and support available to your employees without dictating to them how or for what to use them?

    See what IBM experienced when it made various publishing and broadcasting tools available to its employees and trusted them with the uses. Read Eric Eggertson’s insights into how building a corporate “culture of trust and authenticity” will result in unanticipated creativity and buy-in.

    People are not an interchangeable commodity whose energies we exploit as long as we can get away with it. They are our primary asset, a source of infinite energy and creativity, IF we come to terms with the reality that core to their (our) motivation is the opportunity to contribute and make a difference.

    Try an experiment of your own and see what amazing new improvements, initiatives and/or innovations emerge from your team.

    On your side.