“Employees are a company’s greatest asset – they’re your competitive advantage. You want to attract and retain the best; provide them with encouragement, stimulus, and make them feel that they are an integral part of the company’s mission.”
Anne M. Mulchany former chairperson and CEO of Xerox Corporation
Trust, Respect, and Loyalty
As your first duty is to make your line manager look good, it is also your team’s first duty to make you look good. For them to do this with conviction, they need to feel they can trust you. Building trust with your team is the first step to achieve success for both you and your team.
This post looks at how and why you should build trust with your team.
Build the Team that Compliments your Weaknesses
As much as we like to feel we can do it all, the reality is we can’t. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, so when you put your team together, choose people that will address your own weaknesses. The team is a cohesive whole, and the stronger it is the better you will look in the long run and the more success you and your team will achieve.
Professionalism
Always be professional around your team and lead by example. Your team will look to you to see how to behave and to learn, so establishing a proper procedure now will pay dividends later. As part of that professionalism never gossip about colleagues, and try not to treat people differently in your team. This will lead to resentment and affect team performance.
Transparency and Feedback
Always be as transparent as you can be and avoid secrets whenever possible. A lack of transparency breeds mistrust and mistrust leads to a loss of team performance. To that end be upfront whenever you can. Ensure you include your team in your discussions and be sure to communicate freely.
When you give feedback make sure it is sincere, honest, and to the point. Avoid vitriol (remember professionalism) should your feedback be less than positive, and explain your reasoning behind it. Most will appreciate honest criticism that is designed to improve their performance.
Credit and Blame
The surest way to lose trust, respect, and the performance of your team is to steal the credit and blame others for mistakes they did not make. This will turn your team against you and they may leave as a result. This could see you disciplined.
A better approach is to proportion credit when it is deserved and to take one for the team when you have to. This will build trust and respect from within the team, and see a better performance as a result. They will see that you have their backs and you support them. They will also see that you are with them and are prepared to go down with the ship. This builds trust and builds respect.
If you can build a good focused team they will make you look good in the eyes of your line managers. This will open the door of opportunity for you and make you look like the perfect manager.
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