In recent years, we have seen how trust deficit has negatively impacted organisations. Trust, as we know, takes a long time to build and sustain, but can be broken easily; especially when we do not keep a watch on our behaviour.
Trust can be likened to a fine china clay — difficult to shape and sustain, but easy to break. Once broken, trust takes a significantly long time to rebuild. Preserving and protecting is, therefore, an equally important task. Professionals may do well to remember that some habits they display can destroy trust and frustrate team members and colleagues.
Like many habits, those discussed here too are built over time and therefore, may go unrecognised. Let us look at the seven habits.
Playing favourites : Managers need know that playing favourites is not akin to celebrating stars who perform to their potential consistently — no one grudges differentiating rewards and recognition based on merit. But play favourites and you will feel dissent simmering within your team. This happens when you discriminate based on extraneous reasons, other than merit. If this is done too often, the hard-working, unassuming colleagues will distance themselves from the boss.
Stealing credit : Leadership literature is full of suggestions, that great leaders look through the window when things go well and look into the mirror when things do not. Jim Collins attributes this as one of the qualities that he brands as level-five leadership. When managers make a habit of stealing credit for all the good work done by their team, it has significant demoralising effect on the team.
Encouraging back-biting : For passing their time, or just gossiping around, many managers develop a habit of encouraging those who make destructive comments about others. This soon leads to petty politics, one-upmanship and other undesirable results for the team. When you’re about to make a destructive comment about anybody, ask yourself four questions: Will such a comment help your company; Will it help your customers; Will it help the person you are talking to; Will it help the person you are commenting about.
Delaying rewards and recognition : For reasons best known to them, many managers postpone giving well-deserved recognition to people they manage. When asked, managers agreed to doing this and justified it by saying that people would bask too much in praise and recognition and demand out-of-turn raises or promotions. This unfounded apprehension has enveloped many managers. As a result, employees do not feel valued and wanted.
Hoarding information : Managers often underestimate the devastating effect of hoarding information. Employees work overtime to help the organisation tide over difficult times. Better informed employees feel empowered to contribute more.
Setting up for failure : Studies have revealed that many times, our actions may unwittingly set people up for failure. This is referred to as “set-up-to-fail syndrome”, a habit increasingly seen in many places. It all begins with managers making knee-jerk judgments about employees’ performances and branding them as ‘bad performers’, while in reality, they may only need a bit of guidance or support. Once managers form such a view, they tend to treat them as bad performers, which leads to the “self-fulfilling prophesy”.
Violating commitments : Managers who do not keep commitments they make either because they over-trust their memory or because they were not genuine in making such commitments, end up destroying trust. Interestingly, the smaller or simpler the commitment made and violated, the bigger the hole in the trust. The least managers can do when they realise they have violated a commitment is to apologise and act on it, even if it is late. Better late than never.
The above mentioned habits are a good example of what is now well-recognised as the “boiling frog syndrome.” This syndrome revolves around a bunch of frogs, placed in a bowl of water that is being heated. When the water starts to become warm, frogs do not realise what is going on, and they feel cosy. But as water begins to turn hotter, they eventually boil to death. If the water was hot when frogs were placed in it, frogs would have jumped to safety. Habits are very similar.
Of all the qualities and competencies that make managers, highly inspiring leaders, building and retaining trust tops the list. The seven habits listed above damage the trust and credibility by a magnitude that the manager may never be able to regain. Well-managed organisations use a variety of approaches to help such managers.
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