Trust and Integrity - Basic Principles of Leadership
By Leanne Crain
One of the underlying topics on almost everything we teach here at BizXcel is creating trust of your team and with your team. A good leader knows that having a team trust them, and each other, is a key factor in the success of that team. For instance, in communication, if you do not trust the person that is communicating to you, chances are you will spend the entire time they are speaking to you concentrating not on what they say, but on what they are NOT saying. If you trust them, you will listen to what they are saying instead. When you seek to improve things on your team, remember the first thing you need to begin with, is you. Also, keep in mind you don’t have to be in management to be a leader, everyone can show leadership in a team, and being a trusted member is a great way to start.
In order to gain trust and respect, you will need to practice unyielding integrity. You must be dedicated to constantly keeping your word, living your core values, and demonstrating a relationship between your words and your actions. Tom Peters says “there is no such thing as a minor lapse of integrity.” How true it is. Showing a lapse in your integrity immediately damages your overall image, and sometimes it’s challenging to get that back.
A great example of integrity is a story told of Ghandi:
“A mother once brought her child to him, asking him to tell the young boy not to eat sugar, because it was not good for his diet or his developing teeth. Gandhi replied, "I cannot tell him that. But you may bring him back in a month." The mother was angry as Gandhi moved on, brushing her aside. She had traveled some distance, and had expected the mighty leader to support her parenting. She had little recourse, so she left for her home. One month later she returned, not knowing what to expect. The great Gandhi took the small child's hands into his own, knelt before him, and tenderly communicated, "Do not eat sugar, my child. It is not good for you." Then he embraced him and returned the boy to his mother. The mother, grateful but perplexed, queried, "Why didn't you say that a month ago?" "Well," said Gandhi, "a month ago, I was still eating sugar."
To create an environment of trust within your team, begin with yourself. You cannot expect anyone else on the team to practice integrity if you yourself do not practice it. Work hard at being authentic and real, so that you may become a trusted and valued member of the team, and hopefully inspire other members of your team to do the same.
For more information on leading with integrity, please contact Gary Gzik at ggzik@bizxcel.com.
Leanne Crain is a Marketing and Administrative Assistant for BizXcel. Her background is marketing and tourism, and she has over 12 years experience in the sales and marketing field.
