The Best Leaders Are Doing These 8 Counterintuitive Things And So Should You
How The Top Leaders Destroy Distrust, Skepticism and Doubt
Regardless of the type of organization or team you’re leading, the key ingredient to success is always the same — trust. But it doesn’t come easily, and it’s frustratingly easy to lose.
What’s even more frustrating, trust can’t be created by creating trust directly and you definitely can’t make trust materialize by doing trust-falls or at an offsite “team-building” event.
The secret to building trust is creating confidence.
So what do leaders of high performing organizations and teams do to create confidence?
#1. They set a crazy-ass vision
Great leaders set the big vision and then get out of the way. Well, not completely out of the way, but enough that people can do their jobs without feeling micromanaged.
A meaningful vision should be highly aspirational. So aspirational that it feels almost unattainable. I should sound crazy at first. What makes great visions so great is because they are unattainable.
Think of what JFK said at Rice University in 1962. “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” At the time that wasn’t just inspirational, it was totally crazy.
Having an unattainable or aspirational goal is very important. That’s why so many people love the line “Not because they are easy, but because they are hard”, but the real gem in JFK’s speech is the next line — “Because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills.”
Imagine that? Imagine being able to organize and measure the very best of our energies and skills. Hearing that our very best is going to be organized to achieve this amazing goal might make some feel a little frightened but the majority will feel excited and confident.
As the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland said,…
“If you don’t know where you want to go, then it doesn’t matter which path you take”.
Leaders need to set a clear path forward. Confidence comes from knowing where you’re headed. The first step on the journey, and every one that follows, is an opportunity for leaders to create confidence.
#2. They build momentum, not consensus
A critical part about creating a vision is that it’s not necessary to convince everyone on your team that it’s possible. You’ll always have naysayers and doubters. That’s okay. As a leader your work is to motivate people towards destination that otherwise could be perceived as either scary or too ambitious.
“When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.” ―Elon Musk
Creating a powerful vision for your team results in a team that has confidence in their leader. In a delightful twist of physiology, important goals actually make us feel motivated and courageous. They activate our neural chemistry and urge us forward. Meaningless goals have the reverse effect.
#3. They give trust to gain trust
It’s assumed that to get your leader’s trust you need to earn it. In direct contrast, leaders of high performing teams do the opposite. They give trust unconditionally. They communicate this faith in their teams abilities.
They definitely don’t say crap like this…
“You’ll get my trust when you earn it.”―Inspector Chester Campbell, Peaky Blinders.
Inspector Campbell couldn’t be more wrong. This get-before-you-get idea is wrongheaded. Unfortunately, this type of leadership mythology is now part of the tough boss persona. Put away the bravado and replace it with empathy. It goes a lot further. Trust me.
#4. They delegate decision-making
Making a space for autonomous decisions is just another way of promoting trust. When people are trusted to make decisions, they gain confidence. That confidence is infectious. The more it happens, the likely it’ll keep on happening.
Leaders that foster autonomy provide simple guardrails for their teams and then let them operate freely inside those parameters. In contrast to commonly held beliefs, constraints like this are famously powerful for generating creative solutions.
Team SKY cycling had five Tour de France victories over a 6 year period. This is unprecedented in cycling history. They were able to do this because their director, Sir David Brailsford, created a simple decision making framework which has subsequently been referred to as “Marginal Gains”.
This framework resulted in a culture of continuous improvement. Team members and support staff used this framework to tackle the inevitable obstacles without running every decision up the chain of command. This created confidence in each other and contributed to their winning form.
#5. They plan for bad things happening, not just good things
Nothing really goes as planned. If you are a team leader you know this already. Leaders need a strategy to guide the team’s behavior in the good times and the bad times. Even the most experienced pros make mistakes.
If you are prepared for those bad times, and you have a plan to get back on track, you’ll create confidence within your team. Throwing up your hands when things go wrong leads to doubt and mistrust.
The military have been aware of this for centuries. Instead of pretending they could anticipate every outcome, generals would prepare their soldiers to execute on the commander’s intent, not just the situation they planned for.
“No plan of operations extends with any certainty beyond the first contact with the main hostile force.”―Helmuth von Moltke the Elder.
Think like a Navy SEAL. Anticipate your plans will be obstructed or changed. Regroup when they do and respond with thoughtful action.
#6. They spend time getting to know their team
This seems like common sense but unfortunately it’s not very common. Leaders who make time to deepen their relationships with their teams is still a rare thing. Getting to know someone isn’t just about learning their favorite movie or take-out restaurant, it’s about understanding their motivations and triggers. What makes them tick? What outcomes do they care about?
“The shortest distance between two people is a story.” ― Patti Digh,
Great leaders create opportunities for people to share their stories. They also share their own stories and vulnerabilities. When people share stories, they open up emotionally and that gets the dopamine and serotonin flowing. These brain chemicals make us feel good and increases the level of trust you feel.
#7. They create ways for team members to bond, with themselves
The rapport between leader and team member is important, but it’s more important that the members of the team trust themselves and each other. Sometimes a leader needs to create the opportunities for this to happen and then get out of the way. No need for chaperoning here.
“The power of getting to know one another is so immense, eclipsed only by first getting to know ourselves.”
― Bryant McGill
As McGill suggests, this can also mean creating opportunities for team members to discover their own capabilities and strengths. Successful leaders encourage their teams to push their creative boundaries. Defeating personal doubts leads to growth for everyone on the team.
A team can only be as strong as the weakest link. It’s the role of the leader to lift the members of their team out of personal doubt and low confidence by mentoring, advising, training and coaching them.
#8. They lead with ‘tough’ love, not toughness
Humans are unique in the mastery of language. But even with our ability to cross cultural, generational and domain barriers with language, there is still the challenge of making an emotional connection.
After his release from 27 years in prison, Nelson Mandela had the apparently insurmountable challenge of creating a sense of solidarity for millions of South Africans that spoke eleven different languages. He did this by setting audacious goals for the people of South Africa and conveying his confidence in his people through emotional and heartfelt speeches.
He said, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” This doesn’t mean you have to learn eleven different languages, but you need to learn the language of the heart — compassion and kindness.
“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”― Nelson Mandela
Ready to start leading your team to creative outcomes?
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