Why don’t more leaders practice behaviors that create a culture of trust?

I recently gave a leadership workshop to a group of about 250 leaders that evaluated specific leadership behaviors that have been proven to build a culture of trust and improve team performance.  At the end of the workshop I was asked a question that I did not answer well.

This bothered me. That evening, as well as on my plane ride home to San Diego the next day, I wrestled with the question.

While paraphrased, the essence of the question was the following:

“I understand the importance of a leader’s behavior on creating culture…and intuitively understand that culture drives performance, i.e. a culture of trust leads to peak performance while a culture of fear leads to poor performance. Your personal stories and study data further my appreciation and understanding of this tight correlation between the behaviors of the leader, team culture and team performance. My question is this: Why don’t more leaders practice behaviors that create a culture of trust?

There’s room for improvement in how we choose leaders.

While I was excited that this participant clearly took something of value from my workshop, I was stumped by the query. Sorry…swing and a miss!

Why don’t more leaders practice behaviors that create a culture of trust?

Now that I’ve had some time to grapple with the question, I’ll take another swipe at it. Don’t you love second chances?

Here’s one thought: There’s room for improvement in how we choose leaders.

Here’s a simple question for you. Who’s in a better position to know whether a leader is effective or not – the leader’s boss or the leader’s subordinate? Be honest. How many times have you worked for a leader who made you want to quit – and some A-team players did – but inexplicitly this leader went on to earn another promotion?

Who’s in a better position to know whether a leader is effective or not – the leader’s boss or the leader’s subordinate?

While many ineffective leaders can get key performance indicators going in the right direction in the short term, most cannot sustain similar results over the long term. Morale sinks. Top performers move on – because they can! The death spiral begins. However, the leader has impressed the boss with quick results and is promoted accordingly.

At one point during my command tour we were interviewing a handful of candidates for a C-suite position. I was a member of the small committee of senior leaders who had interviewed the candidates. The committee was deadlocked on two well-qualified candidates. It would be up to me to decide between candidate A and B.

One of my talented mentors suggested that I talk to subordinates who worked for each candidate. Great idea! I informally asked senior middle managers who worked for each candidate (in Navy parlance, the Leading Chief Petty Officer from each unit) about the leadership ability of their boss.

Since that experience I have always solicited input from subordinates before choosing a leader…and have never been burned.

While both managers gave accolades to their respective bosses, the manager who worked for candidate A went out of his way to explain why everyone loved working for her. Even though this conversation took place years ago, I distinctly remember him emphatically telling me that they all worked hard for her because they knew she genuinely cared for them.

That was all I needed to hear. She was selected and did an absolutely tremendous job! She is now in an extremely high leadership position in the Navy. Since that experience I have always solicited input from subordinates before choosing a leader…and have never been burned.

When choosing a leader, take the extra step to solicit information from those individuals who either work for, or work with, each candidate. It can be done formally or informally. Conduct a 360-degree feedback review, or simply ask a person who was led by them. Either way, the information you’ll get will be invaluable.

Why don’t more leaders practice behaviors that create a culture of trust?

A part of the answer is that we’re not using all the tools at our disposal to make one of the most important decisions an organization can make: selecting their leaders.

My next blog will answer this important question from a different perspective.

Until then…enjoy the journey!

Mark

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