When we aren’t trusting of something or someone, we usually fear something that we are not always aware of. I believe fear is the opposite of trust.
The last 18 months has amplified fear in our lives, our beliefs and mindset have been shaken and our workplaces fragmented. In any role, fear can hold us back from leading ourselves and our team limitlessly and stop us from learning, growing, and evolving.
It could be we don’t believe in an idea or a situation or maybe that someone doesn’t possess the ability to complete a specific task or job. Maybe a project is being implemented that you saw fail in the past, or a particular person has made previous mistakes and you fear seeing this take place again.
When we lack trust, especially as a leader, we tend to try to take on the world and not always leverage the opportunities and the strengths of those around us. This can lead to a lack of delegation and using a “telling” style versus the empowering style of “asking”. The penalty for this is that we can become overwhelmed, time-poor and skill stretched leading to missed opportunities, growth and learning.
If the lack of trust relates to your team or work colleagues, you may not be leveraging their strengths and capabilities. This results in holding back their growth and potential as you are not empowering them and creating future leaders in the process.
If we are fearing something my question is: “What or who do I need to believe in to bridge the gap and move from fear to trust?”
Moving from fear to trust requires us to believe in ourselves, other people and the situation at hand.
An exercise we have guided many clients through has helped them move the needle on fear and gain a better understanding by making the space to reflect on the following points:
- Think of a situation or an individual/s that you may not trust or be convinced of?
- How is not trusting in this scenario going to impact you and/or the organisation?
- Rate your level of trust in this situation 1-5 (1=low trust and 5 =high trust).
- Imagine if trust was a 5 out of 5 in this situation. What would be happening or be different?
- What beliefs or thoughts could impact this trust in a good way?
A bit like rapport, we can go in and out of trust. As we head back into the office and continue to work in a hybrid environment, invest in the time gauge and build trust within your team in order to reconnect and prepare for 2022.
Lead to be Limitless…