It’s All About Building Bonds Of Trust

While nothing involving people is ever that simple, the details, while important, are not necessary for the point. If you can't build trust with the people who follow you, you can only lead them so far - a hammer only accomplishes so much. Even though I am not sure if the military, where there is a certain amount of "follow orders no matter what" engrained into solders, is the best example for illustrating one's leadership ability, I can see a parallel to project management. A Project Manager not only needs the confidence and trust of those serving under him/her, a Project Manager also needs the trust and confidence of those he/she reports to. Some people will follow orders no matter what, but I think most PMs have experienced roadblocks caused by stakeholders or project team members. It is the details that Powell skips over that make it possible to build the trust needed to get past or avoid the roadblocks.

Posted: Oct 20, 2008 3:55 PM

A leader only exists because of his/her followers. If there are no followers you are alone in the dessert talking to an ocean of sand. So leaders need to bond and build relations. One of main reason people, besides famiy ties, is trust. I very much agree with COlin and Dave it all boils down to trust.

Posted: Oct 21, 2008 2:09 AM

Dave:
Although, Colin Powell made it sound simple, it takes daily and regular "acts of kindness" to establish your credibility so people believe you are sincere, responsible, supportive, honest and, well, trustworthy. Simple things like, thank you notes, coffee cards and a sincere compliment on their outstanding performance from time to time. Trust is a key tenet a successful leader must build to earn respect and trust over time. Colin Powell suggested that, if you "Take care of your troops, inspire your followers, and recognize and reward them - you will earn and build trust."

Last year, I met and received a book from Judy Ullmas, called "The Power of Acknowledgement" which defines "Seven Principles of Acknowledgement". An excerpt regarding Principle #6 suggests that "acknowledgment can improve the emotional and physical health of both the giver and the receiver." Leaders must express courage and sincerity and provide acknowledgement in the way each individual is comfortable receiving it for it to be effective.

Judy’s book was great, but I also ran across a a leadership model called "It''s All About Trust - Success Model" (http://www.ellencastro.com/success.html) developed by Ellen Castro. It depicts a pyramid that shows as we move from a survival mode of compliance to commitment and fear to trust we are able to thrive as individuals and organizations.

Truly, soft skills are important for leaders to learn. Over time, leaders must make a conscious effort to practice these skills to continue their personal growth and development as leaders in their organizations.


Posted: Oct 21, 2008 2:11 AM

So much of what project managers do in the field is more about behavior management than it is about project management. The same is true for our executives. This is not to disparage project management.

The value of leadership performance is acquired by those executives that can transform strategic thinking into execution management in project delivery.

This competency requires constant transparency. As soon as transparency diminishes you can begin short-selling trust becuase it will degrade over the time of the project life cycle.

Constant transparency is sustain when performing role levels maintain their accountability to perform and deliver. This feeds the life blood to common trust.



Posted: Oct 21, 2008 5:20 PM

Please, do us a favour. Publish Colin Powell's speech.

Tanks :) in advance

Posted: Oct 24, 2008 9:21 AM

Hi alf06 -

I would absolutely do that, but its not mine to post.

Best,
Dave

Posted: Oct 25, 2008 7:00 AM