Transform Your Leadership: How Building Trust Makes Your Feedback Effective
“Blah blah blah” – That’s all somebody hears when bad leaders give feedback.
It’s just noise.
Because you didn’t do something very important…
You didnt build trust with that person.
I’ve had both the bad leader and the great leader in my career.
The bad leader took no time to build trust, and in fact destroyed it with behaviors they displayed along the way.
Because I didn’t trust them, I didn’t respect them.
The feedback (if any) came from a place of necessity or control on their part. It was not thoughtful and constructive. And even if it was good feedback, I was closed off to it.
It was the opposite with my great leader.
I hung on every word when they gave me feedback. Whether it was positive or constructive.
They had earned my respect and built trust through their consistent actions. Heres how they did it.
– Genuinely caring about me as a person – Admitting when they were wrong and messed up – Actually doing the things they said they would do – Being honest with our team, even when it wasnt easy – Showing appreciation for the big wins and the little wins – Showing up every day – not some days, not most day, every day – Giving autonomy to the team and trusting us, even if it meant failing – Rolling up their sleeves and getting into the work when we needed it
Trust takes a long time to build. You have to put in the work and earn it every day.
When you earn trust, you earn respect.
And thats when your feedback is most effective. Your team will listen to you. And they will leap to learn from you and act on it.
Have you fully trusted a leader? What did they do for you?
