Losing Trust in Leadership? Part 1 of 3

I recently stumbled across a 2009 CNBC news story that talked about trust in leadership. Specifically, it talked about how 40% of senior managers worldwide don't trust corporate leadership to navigate them out of the economic crisis and 46% of these same senior managers were unsure of their leaders ability to carry out a plan. These alarming statistics got me to thinking about trust in leadership in general and why it is so hard for some people (a.k.a. followers) to trust their leadership or leaders.

As I thought about it, I narrowed it down to three simple reasons which is the focus of this 3-part blog series.

Reason #1: Leaders Don’t “Walk the Walk”

How many times have you seen it, a so-called “leader” that over and over again inspires its followers through their personal passion, positivity, eloquent choices of words, phrases and language to describe what their vision is and how they intend to get to the promised land? It definitely can be exhilarating and make their followers stand up and cheer.

Unfortunately if a repeated lack of unyielding commitment and action doesn’t follow those awe inspiring words, that exhilaration is quickly lost and it becomes increasingly difficult to trust that leader going forward. A trusted leader simply cannot rely on their vision statement, personal passion, and inspiring words. Trust is not quantifiable; however, the actions of creating, preserving, and regaining trust require concrete processes.

In the end, a vision statement and all of those inspiring words are simply leaders trying to communicate to its legion of followers what they are trying to do.

To quote the almighty Yoda: “Do or Do Not. There is No Try."

Thoughts?

Next Week: Leaders Spin Too Much