The Mindset Series Part 3: Trust Mindset

What Progressive Leaders Do With Uncertainty

Today’s organizations need Evolved Executives to rise above the misery found in most workplaces, and for executives to reach that next level, they must work to develop a trust mindset. Leaders must be willing to let go of the need for certainty.

World markets and events are no longer predictable. The world is changing fast, and none of us know what’s around the next bend. Being comfortable with ambiguity and the unknown might sound like a cliché, but it’s difficult and powerful to do in practice.

Letting go of the need to know what’s coming is one of the deepest challenges I face as an analytical person. I long for the security that comes with having the answer, but I also know this belief is a stumbling block for me and my organization.

Once I truly let go of the need for certainty and endless details, the best courses of action emerge without me forcing them to happen.

Peter Drucker was one of the first prominent thinkers to call out our need to face the realities of uncertainty. He said, “Uncertainty — in the economy, society, politics — has become so great as to render futile, if not counterproductive, the kind of planning most companies still practice: forecasting based on probabilities.”

If you’re a leader in your organization, those words probably send a chill down your spine. How can you be expected to lead when you don’t know what to expect?

Facing this new level of uncertainty highlights why a trust mindset is critical.

Evaluate Your Level of Trust

Letting go of the need to control and predict means developing trust in yourself, your team, and the ability to adapt and change even when you lack answers. Trust becomes a great litmus test as an indicator of your evolution as a leader.

To gauge your trust as an organizational leader, ask yourself these questions:

• Do you trust your team to make good decisions, or do you micromanage their tasks and constantly tell them what to do?
• Regarding change, do you trust more or feel the need to control more?
• Do decisions happen organically as the environment signals change, or do they lag because they’re based on a static plan established months ago?

If your answers aren’t the ones you’d like to see, don’t take that as a negative. See it as an opportunity to improve your organization by developing a trust mindset.

Growing your trust begins on a personal level with greater self-awareness. Here are a few questions that will help you sort out your feelings on comfort and ambiguity:

• Do you withdraw from uncertainty or use it to challenge your own growth?
• Are you attempting to control the uncontrollable at work?
• Do you trust your ability to navigate complex and uncertain situations?

Looking at your answers, see if there’s an area where you can begin to build trust in yourself, your team, and your abilities. Uncertainty and complexity shouldn’t be causes for fear or anxiety. Rather, they’re moments where we can grow our trust.

The Power of Relinquishing Control

A trust mindset is demonstrated when leaders let go of control and power for the benefit of the organization. Doing so gives the organization the ability to sense what’s going on and respond in the moment, instead of trying to control the unpredictable.

Scribe, a company founded in 2014 by Tucker Max and Zach Obront, helps people turn their ideas into books, and demonstrates how letting go can move a company forward.

Early on, Max took on the role of CEO as many founders do, and a year and a half into the life of the company, they were growing fast and making good money.

However, there was a glitch: Max was not succeeding as CEO.

Despite the growth, there was significant tension and struggle. Over time, it became clear he was not the guy to take Scribe to the next level.

He had to ask himself: “Do I want a great company, or do I want to be in charge?”

In other words, was Max focused on the company’s mission or his own career?

In the end, Max resigned as CEO and hired JT McCormick to take the organization forward. Turns out, trusting his instincts and feedback from the team was the right move. In just over a year, McCormick took the company from 50 to 450 books and multiplied the company’s revenue many times over.

The story exemplifies the importance of letting go and trusting the path as it unfolds.

Having a leader be vulnerable, facing his own limitations rather than fighting for power, saying, “I’m going to let someone else take the reins,” takes a radical new belief. As events showed, however, the decision was best for the organization.

How Trust is Reshaping the Workplace

The ability to navigate uncertainty is one of the reasons many organizations are moving to self-management, leaning into trust in a whole new way.

At traditional organizations, strategy begins at the top, with only a few minds creating a plan that cascades down throughout the rest of the organization. Executives control the organization, but their decisions are slow and limited by what they personally know.

Self-managing organizations aren’t top heavy. Instead of being dictated by executives, new strategies can come from any person who senses change is needed.

Home care provider Buurtzorg offers a great example. Local teams are responsible for decisions they feel best meet customer needs and the organization’s mission.

For example, nurses within the local community noticed the primary caregivers for their patients needed a break from the daily demands of providing round-the-clock care. In response, they created a bed and breakfast–like boarding house where patients can receive care and caregivers can get a much-needed break.

There was no strategic plan to grow the organization in this way. There was no high-level dictate saying they needed a boarding house. Instead, the local level sensed the need, and the team took ownership of a decision that benefited all parties.

In the face of uncertainty, it’s important not to default to control but instead to trust. Leaders must be able to trust their colleagues working on the front line to say what’s needed and offer solutions. There, they know best.

For more information on progressive leadership, pick up a copy of my book, The Evolved Executive: The Future of Work is Love in Action.