RUNNING HEAD: To Trust and to be Trusted – The Key to Success 1

To Trust and to be Trusted – The Key to Success

Teaming and Decision Making

Grace Howrigon

Professor Lucas
To Trust and to be Trusted – The Key to Success 2

As I continue to grow in leadership while coaching at a high level, I become more and

more conscious of the ways in which I reach my audience. How do you develop as a leader?

How does your leadership affect the team in which you lead on a daily basis? What do I need to

do to become a conscious leader day in and day out? The common denominator always brings

me back to one essential piece of the foundation - trust.

Trust is a very broad category, and often, hard to accomplish. We are living in a world

filled with technology, media, and politics, all of which put trustworthy people as a rare bread. In

the United States, for example, “a 2005 Harris poll revealed that only 22% of those surveyed

tend to trust the media, only 8% trust political parties, only 27% trust the government, and only

12% trust big companies” (Covey, 2006). In the organizational aspect, trust within companies

has also sharply declined, “only 51% of employees have trust and confidence in senior

management, only 36% of employees believe their leaders act with honesty and integrity, over

the past 12 months, 76% of employees have observed illegal or unethical conduct on the job --

conduct which, if exposed, would seriously violate the public trust” (Covey, 2006). It is crucial

and ever-present in this world that leaders make it necessary to establish trust, as the numbers

show it is a dying breed.

When I think of trust in leadership I think consistency, honesty, loyalty, humility,

integrity, character, accountability, selflessness, positive energy, the list goes on. This paper will

touch on the ins and outs of trust and essentially the need to be consistent in all aspects – this is

how teams sustain; they trust and then build together.

So where does trust begin? Steven R. Covey, American author, educator and

businessman, gives his input on the four ways in which an individual can work from the inside
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out and create a culture of trust around them: self-trust, relationship trust, organizational trust,

market trust and societal trust (Friefeld, 2010).

The first step, self-trust, concludes that in order for others to follow your lead and respect

your words and actions, they must first believe that you as the leader are a credible source. If you

lack credibility as a leader, the team is set up for failure. Covey breaks down self-trust into four

fundamental cores: integrity, intent, capabilities, and results (Covey, 2006). When these four

fundamentals are attended to, it always us as the leader to understand and furthermore, increase

our credibility. A personal example: a going-to-be senior in our basketball program attended six

of 21 open gyms this summer. Our head coach had asked for a commitment of fifty percent from

each athlete. Simultaneously, this individual is sending out mass group texts to the rest of the

team calling them out for not showing up to open gyms and being committed to our success. No

real change in others’ open gym attendance occurred because the “leader”, the senior, was not a

credible source to begin with. Bottom line, if you are going to talk the talk, assure yourself and

your team that you are able to walk the walk as well.

The next step is relationship trust which deals with 13 behaviors that are common to

high-trust leaders (Covey, 2006):

Character-Based Behaviors

Behavior #1: Talk Straight

Behavior #2: Demonstrate Respect
Behavior #3: Create Transparency
Behavior #3: Right Wrongs
Behavior #5: Show Loyalty

Competence-Based Behaviors
Behavior #6: Deliver Results
Behavior #7: Get Better
Behavior #8: Confront Reality
Behavior #9: Clarify Expectations
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Behavior #10: Practice Accountability

Character & Competence Behaviors

Behavior #11: Listen First
Behavior #12: Keep Commitments
Behavior #13: Extend Trust

Each of these behaviors add to the qualities shown in a leader who is trusted. This is not

to say that each leader who displays these traits did so overnight; it takes time and attention to

detail to develop as a leader. A conscious mind is able to research and understand ways in which

these behaviors will aid in their leadership, and uses it to their benefit.

The next step is organization trust, which is perhaps the most doubted in the world we

live in today. This deals with an open and honest workplace. With all of the unethical lawsuits

and those that go unreported today, it is essential that individuals and leaders who make up these

organizations go back to the concept of self-trust; does this organization move with integrity,

intent, capabilities and results? If not, it might not be the place for you. It extends further than

that, dealing with openly sharing information between all levels of authority, tolerating and

encouraging mistakes, innovation, creativity, and sharing credit when deserved (Covey, 2006).

There are many different aspects that go into creating a high-trust organization, yet so often is it

accomplished.

Next comes market trust, which essentially deals with brand and reputation; “It’s all

about the feeling you have that makes you want to buy products or services or invest your money

or time – and/or recommend such actions to others. This is the level where most people clearly

see the relationship between trust, speed and cost” (Covey, 2006). How essential is brand? It is

crucial for any entity. It is how you recruit and sustain the individuals who you desire to be a part

of your organization. Here at Siena Heights University, this is our brand as a Women’s
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Basketball team: “We are a passionate family of dedicated student-athletes, sacrificing to exceed

our own tradition. We respect and value the support of our community, school, and peers. WE

ARE SAINTS!” I believe that what we stand for and who we are is a high-trust environment. I

am able to measure this by the number of four year seniors we graduate every year. That number

allows you to take a step back and evaluate the program and understand that although some

individuals would have liked to play more, receive more credit, etc., that essentially they were

happy enough and felt a piece of a whole enough to continue their journey with us. That is

important. That is a brand. That is why this group of people has brought this school more success

than it has ever had in women’s basketball; our brand allows us to recruit the individuals which

allow us to sustain.

Lastly, societal trust is contribution; “it’s the intent to create value instead of destroy it; to

give back instead of take” (Covey, 2006). Contribution can wear many different faces for any

organization or entity, and essentially, creates trust at a societal level in the world we live in

today. To create value in our program, we do many things. One thing that sticks out to me is

every year we have a breast cancer game and all proceeds go to a local breast cancer center. We

have a silent auction, every athlete receives a shirt with a name on the back of a loved one who

has suffered a loss or beaten cancer. It is a way for the community to know that we value them

and their support, and also to show that it is bigger than the game.

Stephen R. Covey, once again, author of The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness

explains his take on the foundation of long-term sustainability in organizations in his forty-plus

years of observation, “Most of the great cultural shifts -- ones that have built great organizations

that sustain long-term growth, prosperity and contribution to the world -- started with the choice

of one person. Sometimes that one person was the formal leader -- the CEO or president. Very
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often it started with someone else -- a professional, a line manager, someone's assistant” (Covey,

2004). He goes on to say that regardless of position in authority, these individuals first had to

change themselves from the inside out and that eventually, “their moral authority inspired and

lifted others” (Covey, 2004). Once an individual is committed to their personal growth, strides in

leadership begin to occur and those around that individual take notice.

In any team, we approach the inevitable: those individuals who are not able to be trusted.

How does a leader deal with this? “Control what you can. You need to be a model of

performance and results. Show you are credible. Show there’s another alternative that works and

is better. Frame trust matters in economic terms, not merely in social terms. In some cases, you

just may not be able to change the situation” (Freifeld, 2010). To have the ability, as a leader, to

adjust your leadership style and interactions to each individual on your team is essential. It is a

rare yet powerful tool to possess. Learn the art of modifying and getting to know that individual;

this will sustain success. Everyone has felt the negative energy of someone who does not want to

be present, does not speak honestly, etc. Approach it differently. Make them feel valuable, and a

crucial piece to the collective. If that does not work, back to the drawing board. Be able to think

on the fly and adapt to any situation.

Something that spoke volumes to me was Patrick Lencioni's "5 Dysfunctions of a Team"

survey. As a leader and a coach I am always thinking of ways in which we can improve on both

of our weaknesses and strengths. In approaching this survey I knew it would answer some of my

questions as it has been clear to me that our leadership needs improvement this year.

The lowest rated dysfunction of the team I am a part of lies in Dysfunction 1, absence of

trust. This totaled a score of six, with a score of 2 in statement four and a score of 1 in statement

six. These statements were 4) Team members quickly and genuinely apologize to one another
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when they say or do something inappropriate or possibly damaging to the team and 6) Team

members openly admit their weaknesses and mistakes.

These statements deal with "concealing their weaknesses and mistakes from one another"

which is what Lencioni describes as something members of teams do with an absence of trust.

When I put this in the context of my team, it is ever-present. What is crazy to me is how often an

individual is able to point the finger, but how rare it is that they point it back at themselves. A

couple of days ago we had an open gym with the girls. At the end, our head coach made them get

on the line (which is unusual punishment for fall open gym) and run because they were calling

each other out left and right and disrespecting the calls, etc. When a group of individuals is able

to truly trust one another, and feel comfortable holding each other accountable and self, that is

when the team will flourish. This exercise really made me realize that as a collective this is our

weakness - trust. The potential is there, but without trust, how far will we go?

In a world where trust is rare, we need to be able to take a step back and analyze our

organizations. How do we build and sustain trust? How do we trust ourselves? How will we

flourish? The reality is that there is not one way. Leadership and teaming extends further than

what we are able to put down on paper. Trust is essentially a feeling you get when you know it is

real and genuine. We have all felt successes and failures and there is a feeling you feel in there

when it is with a group of people that you trust and when it is the opposite. Bottom line, it is

crucial to recruit individuals who understand how to relate to people and what motivates people.

Whatever entity it may be, recruit people who get it. Leaders understand how to build trust

between a group and how to maintain it. Honesty, loyalty, humility, integrity, character,

accountability, selflessness, positive energy - those are the words I think of when I think of trust.
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These are also the qualities I think of when I think of leadership. Find those leaders and hold on

to them.
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References

Covey, S. R. (2004). From Effectiveness to Greatness. Retrieved September 30, 2016, from

http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0739/2007278594-s.html

Covey, S., Merrill, R. (2006). The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything.

Sample text for Library of Congress control number 2006070131. Retrieved September

30, 2016, from http://catdir.loc.gove/catdir/enhancements/fy0703/20006050131-s.html

Covey, S. M., & Merrill, R. (2006, November). The Speed of Trust – Summary. Retrieved

September 28, 2016, from

http://www.tn.gov/assets/entities/hr/attachments/Speed_of_Trust_Executive_Book_Sum

mary.pdf

Freifeld, L. (2010). Trust is a Must. Training, 47(1), 16-18. Retrieved from

http://search.proquest.com/docview/203410656?accountid=28644