Building Trust

A buzz went through my organization, but it was my mother who first said to my face what everyone was chattering about: “Don't too many black people go to those races,” she said, incredulous when I told her. I then let on that the race was in Richmond, Virginia. “I'll be prayin' for you,” she added. In the weeks before the race, she wasn't the only one, white or black, to say something similar.

The track at Richmond was enormous, boasting 90,000 seats, all of which were full the day of our race. From where we entered, we had to walk halfway around the perimeter to get to our seats. After we passed about 30,000 people, Dan turned to me and said, “James, I think that you may be the only African American here.” I smiled. “That's true, but consider this. Anyone who looks twice at me isn't thinking, ‘What's he doing here?’ they're thinking, ‘Who the hell brought him?’”

The look on Dan's face was priceless. We both broke out into grins. When we got to our seats, our customers were already there. There were about 15 of them, and I sat next to our biggest customer in that region. He was about 65 years old, the owner of the company, and he had his son with him. He had been a racing enthusiast since he was a boy. When I told him that this was my first race, he became my passionate tutor. He told me everything to look for and then had me put on earphones that let me listen to the drivers communicating with their teams.

Watching and listeningduring the pit stops, I was in awe; I had never before seen real-time precision teamwork on that level. After the race, the group asked me what I thought about it, watching carefully as I responded. It was easy for me to be genuinely enthusiastic, especially when I started talking about the teamwork. They all nodded their heads, smiling, and continued the conversation. We were all leading companies, even if they were different sizes. Appreciation for quality teamwork was common ground. If it was a test, I had passed with flying colors. The event was a huge success, and I left knowing that I had cemented some important relationships.

Word of the day's events spread rapidly throughout the division. The question of whether I could relate to customers had been answered, and the sales force looked at me with new eyes. Within three months, a second region was added to my responsibilities.

I knew from the start that I could be a good leader for the organization. Once I demonstrated that I was willing and able to step into their world with both feet, everyone else knew it, too.

Eight Practices for Building Trust You don't have to go as far as NASCAR to step outside of your boundaries. You can do it within your company's walls. You could spend an afternoon having a call center employee train you to work the phones. You could take time during a group meeting to share a time you made a mistake. You could organize an evening event, or simply join employees for lunch. These are all opportunities to let people see beyond your job title.

Remember Ernie, my boss at Pepperidge Farm? I told you earlier that he won our trust by letting us know how valuable our work was, and serving us steak dinners to prove it. He was

Dallas, H. J. (2015). Mastering the challenges of leading change : Inspire the people and succeed where others fail. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Created from capella on 2022-02-21 23:21:13.

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the top boss, yet he did even the janitors' onboarding personally. That meant something to me. I believed him when he said doing our jobs to the letter was important—so much so that when a fellow janitor failed to clean the bins on his shift and I didn't have time to clean them myself, I let Ernie know. Keeping standards high was more important to me than taking heat for ratting out a peer. Without Ernie's leadership, I probably would have let it slip. Point being, trust is more than a “warm fuzzy”—it has real influence on how people behave.

What follows is a list of the eight practices I repeat again and again to keep the boundaries between me and my teams as fluid as possible. Over time and with sincere attention, they lead to high levels of trust and mutual respect.

1. Ask a hub to introduce you.

This creates a halo effect, predisposing people to give you the benefit of the doubt. Of course, in order for this to work, you've got to gain the hub's trust first—otherwise he or she will be reading from your bio, which gets you nowhere. Build that relationship first, so that when the hub is introducing you, he or she is also vouching for you with a statement like, “I'm getting to know James personally, but what I've seen so far tells me that he learns, engages, and does the right thing.”

2. Break bread on their turf.

I've touched on this several times already. Initial meetings with the people who will be your partners—leaders, hubs, mavericks, and so on—should always take place over meals. Have them pick the restaurant. If you're in a region that's new to you, you can even have them order. Often you'll find there's a story or significance to the dish that they choose. Note: Unless you're allergic, eat as much as you can. Being tepid about their favorite food isn't the best way to start!

I will always remember a meal I had when I was meeting with our team in China. We were at a manufacturing location far away from any major city. There were at least five local people from the site at the table. I told them that I would eat whatever they did. In the local custom, the food was placed on a lazy Susan turntable. There was some type of chicken in a very big pot that they had ordered. When it came around for my second helping, the chicken's feet popped out of the pot. All eyes turned on me to see how I would react. In my mind, I said, “Damn! Those are chicken feet!” However, I immediately put them on my plate and asked casually, “Do I use my chopsticks to eat them?” Everyone just smiled and looked at each other in approval.

3. Speak their language.

This goes for traveling to foreign offices, but also for the unique cultures within your company. Certain words carry significance. For example, at Medtronic, invoking our mission of “improving lives” got people's attention. At Georgia Pacific, any words related to safety had weight. Listen to people and you'll learn their buzzwords quickly—or ask a hub to bring you up to speed.

4. Acknowledge people, especially front-line employees.

Dallas, H. J. (2015). Mastering the challenges of leading change : Inspire the people and succeed where others fail. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Created from capella on 2022-02-21 23:21:13.

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It means a lot to people when senior-level leaders greet and meet them. In doing so, you're offering two of the three things people value most: security and significance. That means that when you lead them through change, those things are protected. Believe it or not, a simple “hello” with a smile can make people feel that you value them.

Leaders sometimes don't realize that their acknowledgment makes a real impact. People don't just notice how they are greeted, but also how the leaders are greeting others. If you only smile and glad hand with certain people when you come into a room, they see that. If they aren't among them, their senses of significance take a hit.

Always acknowledging people is easier said than done. Always means always, not just when you have time. When walking the halls, you can't get so caught up in your thinking that you ignore people as they walk by. Nothing gets in the way of building trust more than being hot then cold in your behavior. I remember one IT director during my programming days who walked by me every single morning without saying hello. When he finally stuck his head into my office one day and said, “Hello, my name is XXX, what's yours?” it scared the living hell out of me. Far from building trust, his appearance made me think, “What was that about?” I wasn't surprised when a couple of weeks later his “resignation” was announced. It was too little too late.

5. Engage people.

Schedule time dedicated to asking people what they feel and think. Hold structured sessions and listen, listen, listen. The most important aspect of getting this right comes after the sessions end. You have to follow up and let them know what you are doing with their suggestions. Even if the answer is “nothing,” they need to understand why. Otherwise you're just patronizing them, which destroys trust.

6. Share your weaknesses.

This can be surprisingly difficult; leadership can create self-consciousness. After all, people are watching your every move. But what I've learned is that failing to acknowledge my weaknesses—for example, times I've made mistakes—diminishes their trust. We're all human, and if people don't see the signs of that, they just assume you're hiding them, which is the opposite of trust. Instead, open up to them. You'll find that they respond in kind.

7. Create safety to discuss mistakes.

The fact that I acknowledge my own mistakes goes a long way toward teaching people that mistakes are a normal part of the business of change. But when I am in charge of a new group, I always make sure to let them know what will happen if they come to me with a mistake. I won't chew them out or hang them out to dry. (Do that, and there won't be a next time.) Instead, I'll ask how they're going to fix it and what I can do to help. I never fault someone for a mistake, only for the failure to then learn from it.

I once ignored the recommendation of an e-commerce expert, Gabe, when I tried to implement a data-gathering technology that he flat out told me wouldn't work. He was right, but he never said, “I told you so” or used my mistake against me. Instead, he helped me fix

Dallas, H. J. (2015). Mastering the challenges of leading change : Inspire the people and succeed where others fail. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Created from capella on 2022-02-21 23:21:13.

C o p yr

ig h t ©

2 0 1 5 . Jo

h n W

ile y

& S

o n s,

I n co

rp o ra

te d . A

ll ri g h ts

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rv e d .