Hi, I do think I have a level of trust but need to self reflect to see if I’m way off base. I have just booked some time with one of the employees to explore some common ground. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts – really helpful to bounce ideas around. Dawn

Hi David. Here’s a direct link to where you can download the white paper. If you haven’t accessed our white papers before you’ll need to go through a registration process (it’s free). http://www.kenblanchard.com/Business_Leadership/Effective_Leadership_White_Papers/Building_Trust/

Thanks for the clarification. It’s not uncommon for managers to not have the same experience or history with a given job function than the people they are managing. I’m a fan of openly discussing these differences of perception, assuming the trust level is high enough to do so. Another alternative may be approaching each team member individually to learn more about why they believe you aren’t as competent in this area as you should be.

Sounds like you’re doing the right things Dawn. Do you have a level of trust with those individuals where you can openly discuss these differences of perception?

Hi David,
Yes, here is the direct link to the Building Trust white paper http://www.kenblanchard.com/img/pub/Blanchard-Building-Trust.pdf

Would it be possible to get a direct link posted to the whitepaper Randy references above?

Thank you, more specifically my question was related to employees confidence in the competence of the leader that is not performing the same responsibility and is doing so virtually. My team does some physical processing in one location that can not be done in other locations. Any tips on presenting competencies virtually across multi-functional teams?

Lead with Trust!

Thank you Randy. I can confirm we have those things in place too. Overall those tools work really well. But for a few employees, I sense the ‘trust’ connection may be broken. It’s particularly challenging when I have to discuss a situation with our customers where the employee’s actions appear to be less than our expections. ie. listening, documenting, raising the concern. I believe I’ve looked at myself and the four qualities you mentioned. Just seem to be missing something in my communication to foster employee’s growth in their role.

Great question Dave. This gets to the key point we made – Trust is based on perception. I think it’s important to share the ABCD Trust Model with people so that everyone has a common framework/language for what trust means. There is an excellent white paper on http://www.kenblanchard.com on Building Trust that explains the ABCD trust model.

Thanks David!

Thanks Brenda!

Hi there. See my response to Dawn above. There needs to be clear expectations and agreements with virtual workers so that trust is fostered rather than suspicion being created.

I can relate to your concern Dawn. Nearly 1/2 of my team is located virtually. I think it starts with the team agreeing on norms for how they will operate. It’s important for their to be transparency and honesty in the relationship with virtual workers. I use Instant Messenger statuses, a team calendar, etc. as a way to keep communication open with virtual members.

Hello Phil. Moral/ethical dilemmas….argghh…tough situations. Not to oversimplify it, but those are choice points you have to make, right? There isn’t ever a right time to do the wrong thing, so hopefully a person could find the right people in the organization to raise their concerns with and find the right path to follow.

Hi Suan! No, I didn’t belong to 4-H but I have some good friends who do! Similar concepts indeed…

Hi Dayna, that’s an excellent question. He may be enjoying success now but will it be sustainable? I would start by asking the leader if he is open to some feedback and whether having trusting relationships is important to him. Assuming he does, you could share these concepts with him and explore how he could incorporate them into his leadership behavior.

Would you have any thoughts about ‘trust’ in the context of this type of situation?