Trust is built. Three expectations that every leader must meet to build trust (Part 1).
Trust is built.
Your approach to leadership—your leadership style and your conduct as a leader—has a direct impact on your relationships and trustworthiness.
Bit by bit over time you can build trust. Healthy leadership practices that meet the trust-related expectations of those being led establish and reinforce trust. Your approach to leadership—your leadership style and your conduct as a leader—has a direct impact on your relationships and trustworthiness. In fact, when someone continually sees you practicing healthy leadership, their trust significantly increases in you and in the leadership of the ministry.
As you build trust, I want to encourage you to remember that developing trust is not a simple and straightforward process.
Resist the urge to think of trust in linear terms.
Building trust is not a once-and-done exercise. You need to continually discern how others are responding to you to maintain their trust. People constantly test their relationship with leaders (and ministries). Depending on how someone is responding to you, you may need to adapt (keeping in mind, trust is deepened when trust-related expectations are met). Maintaining a responsive posture will help you attend to the trust needs of those you are leading.
In my last post, I identified three specific expectations that every leader must meet.
The influence of these expectations is so significant that you will be trusted to the extent—and only to the extent—that you exemplify each one.
Over the next few posts, I want to look more closely at each one of these expectations:
Competence
Let’s look at competence this month.
Competence is primarily concerned with your ability to adequately respond to the needs and demands of your role and responsibilities.
Healthy leadership practices that meet the trust-related expectations of those being led establish and reinforce trust.
Assessing competence need not be a cumbersome activity.
Often, it is abundantly clear to all parties involved when competence is present or lacking. While no leader can be expected to be competent in every way or area, ministries and leaders must agree on those competencies that are critical to advancing mission in their specific context. It is expected that you will be proficient in those competencies essential for your role.
Assessing your proficiency in this area does not require an elaborate tool or exercise. Rarely do such assessments actually provide any meaningful direction, correction, or support.
Simple steps to completing an assessment of your competence:
Define those competencies essential for your role. I suggest you start by defining those competencies essential for your role. You can use your position description and any other documentation that addresses your role to determine them. (Using these documents, I identified nine competencies essential for my role. Additionally, I noted a series of tasks for each competency.)
Prayerfully reflect on your proficiency in each competency. Once you have defined the competencies, you can rate your perceived level of proficiency for each competency. (My sheet outlines a scale of 1 to 7 but you could use another scale.) The important thing to keep in mind is that no leader can be proficient in every competency. You should score above par in multiple competencies and only stand out in a few. It is also expected that executive or senior leadership will require, at minimum, a mid-range rating in each competency.
Review ratings and reflections with your board. After you have had time to prayerfully reflect on your responses, I recommend you set a time to meet with the person or committee or board responsible to oversee you to walk through your responses and reflections. When you meet, you are going to want to confirm that the competencies listed represent those essential to your role. You are also going to want to give them a chance to respond and reflect with you.
Determine your growth potential. Throughout the assessment process, take time to think and talk about ways you can develop your competency. The greatest benefit from this assessment will come from focusing on your growth potential.
An on-demand video series on how succession planning can help ministries advance their mission.
Succeeding In Succession is an on-demand video series on how succession planning can help ministries advance their mission. This series is designed to help leaders and ministries sustain organizational health even as they experience a leadership change.
Everything you need for this series is right here.
There are 10 sessions, plus 5 additional bonus sessions. Each session has its own set of presentation slides and an accompanying handout. Together these act as an interactive learning experience.
You can choose to work through this series over time taking one session at a time or bundle all the sessions together at once for a team retreat or simply pick and choose sessions that will be most helpful for you. The best approach will best fit your context.