Looking for a Way to Build Trust? Here is One Characteristic Successful Leaders Use

Transparency allows the light of truth to shine through.

Do you want to build trust with your team? How about improving engagement, is that important to you? Of course. Those are silly questions in today’s world. From a leadership point of view, those may be two of the most frequently searched items when looking to develop as a leader. Trust builds engagement. Period. Transparency is a vital component of building trust.Being transparent does not mean you need to spill every piece of information you know of. It simply means letting others know what you know in the ways they need to know them. As a leader, there will always be pieces of information that are not appropriate to share with others. You would not share other peoples salary information, for example. You may be privileged to additional confidential information sooner than others as well. For example, you may be aware of future strategic initiatives for your company; you would not share the specifics of those initiatives until it was appropriate to do so. However, you could share with your team that the company is working on many new exciting strategies that will help grow the business in the future.To me, being transparent means sharing everything you can to ensure your team has the information they need to do their job now and in the immediate future. Sharing not only keeps your team informed but engaged as well. In time the trust builds. The team becomes confident that you are always sharing what is most relevant to them and that you will let them know when things are going to shift or change.I recently wrote about the difference between perception and reality - Perception is not Reality – Vision and Communication Make the Difference transparency was something I mentioned as a way to help bridge that gap as a leader. There are some additional steps you can take to show transparency and build trust with your team, peers, and anyone else you interact with regularly.

1. Share frequently and openly. Be consistent in how you are communicating with those around you. If you only communicate or ‘try to be transparent’ when something is already changing, then you have missed the real opportunity at being transparent. Keep people apprised of the environment as often as possible, even if it is just to say that nothing new has come up.
2. Don’t Sugarcoat. Communicate clearly and factually with your team. As I mentioned above, few people want a softened approach to serious pieces of information. Address the situation head-on, even positive news should be addressed with facts and supporting information. In a world where ‘fake news’ is a common refrain, don’t be the purveyor of it.
3. Ask for feedback. Transparency can work hand in hand with vulnerability as well. If you do not have a lot of information, but still need to find solutions for pressing issues, ask the team for their feedback. Then address the information openly and honestly. It is an excellent way to source new ideas and demonstrate transparency at the same time.
4. Tell them if you cannot answer. As mentioned above, there will be times that you have information that you cannot share with others at that moment. Let them know that and provide what insights you can. Then let them know that as soon as you can share the information you will.

Being transparent can seem like a risky thing to embrace all the time, but I have always found it to serve me well. It strengthens the relationships with all those you serve, whether you work with them every day or just on occasion. When people believe what you say, they feel more connected to what they are doing and confident that they have the information they need to do their job successfully.What successes have you had when being transparent with your team? Share your stories in the comments section.Join other retail leaders in continuing their development journey with Effective Retail Leader.com. SUBSCRIBE today to receive leadership tips directly to your inbox and monthly newsletters that provide many tools to help further develop your leadership skills. JOIN NOW!No spam ever - just leadership goodness.