Trust is one of my core values.
I used it to build and shape teams, organisations, and my life.
My career has never been linear and I love the richness it’s given me and it flies in the face of expectation and convention.
It’s borne out of being told I wasn’t good enough to perform in a school play when I was about 8, or it wasn’t possible to take a particular subject at school when I was 12.
I’ve worked in multiple industries and had multiple careers – all because I wanted to try that particular role or experience.
Trust is about embodying it. A fundamental value to shape futures.
– Juliet Morris
I trusted my instinct and my heart – achieved things I never set out to achieve, all because I loved what I was doing and working with the teams around me. I’ve also done, and continue to do the work, to understand where this comes from to help me understand where I want my future to be.
Trust also sits with my other two values – openness and honesty.
I firmly believe that to shape futures starts with us, as leaders. Because trust, openness, and honesty are the epitome of high performance.
When you trust you feel emotion – laughter, fun, tears, all of that. I find that as leaders we feel we have to hold things together, be brave and strong, we block those emotions.
I’ve worked with senior leaders who are trapped behind the right thing to do and be seen as being the job title, as opposed to the human.
I’ve also worked with people that bring out the best in others, and those that don’t because it’s all about them.
Acknowledging those emotions and using them as a steer to trust yourself is a great start. Are they true? What emotions are you feeling? What are you thinking? Where do you feel the emotion in your body?
I’m honoured to work with clients who trust me to share their dreams and visions; often they haven’t shared these with anyone else. A single sentence that leads to something so incredibly transformational filling the room with energy.
With organisations, I’ve been trusted to lead and design talent programmes that have enabled organisations to hire expert teams, grow their customer base and improve the bottom line.
Trust is always at the heart of those conversations.
Why would you not trust someone? Where does that come from?
Here are a few examples of Low Trust:
- Creating or needing to be in every meeting.
- Holding on to the puppet strings.
- Saying repeatedly, I trust you.
- Telling.
- Exhaustion.
- Frustration.
- Not talking.
- Unnecessary monitoring.
- Not sharing how you really feel, or think.
- Saying. I wish I could do that, you’re lucky.
- When you or your teams go quiet.
- Low engagement, high turnover.
Here are a few examples of High Trust:
- Consciously listen.
- Being positively curious.
- Building on their idea, such as Yes, and what I love about that is …
- Providing meaningful and timely feedback.
- Elevating and celebrating the strengths of all (this is not the same as putting people on a pedestal).
- Trying new ideas.
- Celebrating the effort to try (even if it fails).
- Performance.
- Happiness.
- Stickiness (retention and growth).
- Saying, well done! I’m proud of you.
- Increased Energy = Increased productivity.
- Higher engagement, delivery and results.
I like this acronym:
Tomorrow’s Results Ultimately Start Today
If you want quicker results and a sense of belonging, starting by trusting yourself today; it will bode well for tomorrow.
You may not be able to control everything, but you can influence certain things.
– Stephen R. Covey
Trust starts with you.
I leave you with this question to ponder on:
We see the world and those around us as we are, so if you don’t trust others in that moment, do you trust yourself?
Photo by Ronda Dorsey via Unsplash
Juliet is an award-winning executive coach, consultant, and leader. Over the next 10 years, her mission is to shape a million futures, one leader at a time, by igniting possibilities and elevating their extraordinary.
To work with Juliet, book an initial call, subscribe to Quest, download her free guide or connect on LinkedIn.
