The Most Effective Way to Grow Your Long-Term Profits
That might be a little surprising.
Why trust is a key driver of your bottom line.
What global trust levels in leadership are right now.
An effective strategy to building trust in you and your team to fuel profit growth.
Did you know that trust in you as the leader, and trust levels within your team have a direct impact on your bottom line?
In fact, it’s a key driver and it makes sense when you stop and think about it.
A recent study found that trust
Is the #1 driver of engagement.
Enables collaboration.
Fosters creativity and innovation.
Increases productivity by up to 50%
Elements key to driving performance and profits.
The same study also found that those who completely trust their colleagues, team leader, and senior leadership are 42 times more likely to be resilient and that,
High-trust companies are 2.5x more likely to be high-performing revenue companies.
(ADP Global Workplace Study, September 2020)
That’s pretty cool huh?
But here’s a disturbing statistic – the trust levels in leadership, according to a recent Gallup Poll are now sitting at 21%.
That’s an all-time low.
What are the trust levels in your team right now?
Does your team trust you?
Given how much trust levels can impact your profits, I want to share my number one strategy to build trust in you and your leadership that will ultimately lead to a winning performance from your people to propel your business forward.
Think about this for a minute, which people do you trust the most?
Do you trust the people who you talk to quickly in passing, or who like your Insta Posts, or, do you trust those who you spend quality one on one time with to genuinely discuss things openly – those who take an interest in you and your life?
In the increasingly demanding pace that business life sets, we can often neglect this when it comes to leading our team but, to successfully build your business and lead it to new heights, you need to do it one on one.
This means you need to spend deliberate one on one time with each of your key people on a regular basis.
I’d start with your top 20% or those you can’t afford to lose.
It’s important to spend one on one time with them so you know what makes them tick and what’s going on with them – to show you really care about them as a person and to foster their growth and development – both professionally and personally.
When deadlines creep in and demands pile up, it’s easy to convince yourself that a quick joke passing in the hallway, a team meeting here and there, and an email or two from you will be more than enough to communicate with and to lead your team effectively.
There’s so much pressure as the leader but as the leader, it’s your responsibility to grow your team, to get them to willingly follow you because they trust and respect you, so you can achieve the Vision you have for your business.
To do this, you need to be continuously communicating effectively one on one with them and vice versa.
You need to know:
- Exactly what motivates them to get up in the morning,
- What’s going on for them in their world and,
- You need to show them that you care about developing their skills and abilities and setting goals for their progress.
You can’t do this via email or a quick pleasant exchange in the office kitchen or in a team meeting via Zoom.
This is best communicated one on one with a disciplined bi-monthly or monthly rhythm.
It’s extremely important you identify what the individual you are leading really wants and needs.
All humans are driven by wants and needs – it’s their motivation for getting out of bed each day. If their needs and wants are being met (within reason and in balance with the business or team) then you’ll create an extremely positive work environment.
The One-on-One process is very effective in discovering what these are. (If you want to read my previous article on the power of One on Ones, click here.)
Do you know what your team members want and what drives them?
Over the last 30 years, I’ve done more than 18,000 formal one on ones around the world in my teams and for those of my clients, and I’ve learned that it’s a key strategy to earning trust so that people will follow you.
Making time to show you genuinely care about each of your key people leads to genuine trust and respect and this is vital if they’re going to give their best for you each day.
As US President, Theodore Roosevelt, once famously said:
“Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.”
Why would anyone choose to follow you otherwise?
Finding the balance of being honest with the individual about their performance and empowering and building up the individual through positivity and encouragement is a golden opportunity to grow them and is a key ingredient in dynamic and effective leadership.
When you also effectively combine this with discovering what drives them, as well as identifying a life goal for them (and help them to achieve it), then you’re really making a positive impact on the people you lead to help them reach their fullest potential.
And this my friend, in turn, builds trust, honesty, and respect back to you as the leader and it leads to them giving you their best performance.
Who do you need to be honest with about their performance?
What do you need to be honest about?
What goals have you identified that combine effectively for both the business and each individual you’re leading?
Building trust, honesty, and respect isn’t something you do once and then forget about – it’s a behaviour you need to focus on and build upon regularly.
Just because you have trust, honesty and respect today, doesn’t mean you’ll have trust, honesty and respect tomorrow, and you need these in your team to achieve anything great.
Keep your finger on the pulse and assume nothing. Ever.
Developing skills to conduct effective one on one mentoring sessions takes time and practice – I’m definitely better at it now than when I first started.
Each time I do a one-on-one, I often learn how to do the next one with that individual even better and I often make a note of how I could improve next time.
So can I encourage you if you don’t already mentor your key people one on one, that you seriously consider how you could?
Even if you simply start by regularly making time with each team member to see how they’re going.
Rome wasn’t built in a day.
But your business is built one on one.
Take care and keep climbing,
Coxey.
