by Prudy Gourguechon
Republished from Forbes, February 25, 2018
Trust is a fundamental leadership capacity, and it works in two directions. It’s pretty obvious that a leader needs to be able to inspire trust and be worthy of that trust. It’s equally important that she has the capacity to trust others, a psychological strength has its foundations in early childhood. Previously I have written about why trust–both kinds–is so important. And how trust can go too far.
If you are evaluating a candidate for a leadership position or coaching a leader, how do you determine whether she has these capacities? And whether they operate in a reasonably modulated range, not tipping over into blind trust of others or exploiting others’ trust?
Assessment of the Capacity to Trust Others
Self-reports are unlikely to be useful and trust is not something that can be directly observed. However, a person’s capacity to trust can be evaluated by looking at specific secondary behaviors which occur only if the person is able to trust. And a weakness in this area will reveal itself via negative indicators – behaviors that are predictable when someone is deficient in the capacity to trust other people.
POSITIVE SIGNS: A leader with the capacity to trust others:
- Shows respect.
- Delegates.
- Listens to a wide range of opinions and allows them to have a real impact on the decision-making process.
- Comfortably expresses doubt and ambivalence.
- Actively seeks feedback and acts on it.
- Admits mistakes
- Takes responsibility for problems.
NEGATIVE SIGNS: A leader deficient in the capacity to trust others tends to:
- Blame others for mistakes.
- Maintain a position despite contradictory information.
- Paint herself as a victim.
- Demand unquestioning loyalty.
- Have a very small circle of advisors.
- Lie or dissemble.
Assessing Excessive Trust
These are warning signs that a leader is not paying attention and is vulnerable to unquestioning trust when he should be warier:
- Dismisses inconvenient facts about someone in his inner circle.
- Fails to do due diligence.
- Ignores a history of bad behavior without asking for an explanation and a plan for change and continued monitoring.
- Relies on a very small circle of insiders.
Assessment of the Capacity to Inspire Trust
Don’t bother asking about trust in a 360 evaluation. The truth about trust is often unconscious. The ability to inspire trust is best assessed indirectly by looking at specific observable behaviors of people in an organization in relation to the leader.
POSITIVE SIGNS: When a leader inspires realistic levels of trust:
- Followers feel free to admit mistakes.
- Team members comfortably ask for help when they are stuck.
- People at all levels readily give feedback.
- Followers are loyal but not blindly so.
NEGATIVE SIGNS: A leader who is relatively weak in the capacity to inspire trust:
- Focuses on self-promotion.
- Makes unrealistic promises.
- Ignores unfairness and discrimination.
- Blames others.
- Is isolated and aloof.
- Avoids taking responsibility for problems in the organization.