Are you perceived as a trustworthy boss?

Which character traits do you need to have if you want to work effectively and get ahead? The answer depends, to some extent, on the kind of work you do — but there’s one trait that everyone needs to have if he or she wants to succeed, and that’s trustworthiness. Technically, it’s not so much being trustworthy but being perceived as trustworthy that matters. You can be as honest, fair and reliable as the day is long, but if nobody else sees you that way, it won’t help you.

When your boss doesn’t trust you, you don’t get key assignments, promotions or the latitude to do things your way and take risks. When your employees don’t trust you, you don’t get their best effort or all of the information you need from them to make good decisions.

If you want other people to believe that you are trustworthy, you should be aware that you might be seriously undermining that belief if you appear to lack self-control. Some research has shown that people don’t trust you when you seem to have a willpower problem. If you think about it, this makes a lot of intuitive sense. We trust people because we know that when things get hard, or when it might be tempting for them to put their own interests first, they’ll resist temptation and do what’s right.

Studies show that when you engage in behavior that indicates low self-control, your trustworthiness is diminished. In other words, all of those things you know you shouldn’t do —overeating, procrastinating, tardiness, disorganization, being excessively emotional or having a quick temper — might be even worse for you than you realize because of the collateral damage they are doing to your reputation.

Your capacity for self-control is like muscles in your body. Like biceps or triceps, willpower varies in its strength, not only from person to person but also from moment to moment. Just as well-developed biceps sometimes get tired and jelly like after a strenuous workout, so, too, does your willpower “muscle.”

Even everyday actions such as decision-making and trying to make a good impression can sap this valuable resource. Also coping with the stresses of your career and family. When you tax it too much at once, or for too long, the steadiness of self-control strength weakens, no matter who you are. It is in these moments that the doughnut — or cigarette, or hot temper — wins.

So if you are serious about resisting unwanted impulses, start by making peace with the fact that your willpower is limited. If you spend all of your self-control handling stresses at work, you will not have much left at the end of the day for sticking to your resolutions. Think about when you are most likely to feel drained and vulnerable, and make a plan to keep yourself out of harm’s way. Decide, in advance, what you will do instead when the impulse strikes.

The good news is willpower depletion is only temporary. Give your muscle time to bounce back, and you’ll be back in fighting form. So if you want to build more willpower, start by picking an activity (or avoiding one) that fits with your life and your goals – anything that requires you to override an impulse or desire repeatedly, and add this activity to your daily routine. It will be hard in the beginning, but it will get easier over time if you hang in there, because your capacity for self-control will grow. Other people will notice the change and trust you more. Trust me!☺

Creating a productive culture during tough times

During tough times, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep yourself and others focused. Our brain’s reaction to fear kicks in and we pursue a variety of options just in case.  Despite our brain’s insistence that we look at multiple opportunities and constantly explore new things, tough times are not the time to diffuse your energies. Focus, focus, focus!

Get clear on what excellence looks like for the next six months.  Define it, so all employees can relate to it and can make the right decisions moment to moment.  Once you have gotten yourself focused on the right things including prioritizing where you should spend your time and other resources, there are some core things you can do to keep employees engaged and aligned. To start, at the company or team level, make sure you have reconsidered the culture necessary to achieve quality based on the changes around you. Culture helps people know what to do and how to act. Remember that actions speak much louder than words, so it is the apparent behaviors that get translated into beliefs and drive behavior throughout the organization.  If you say one thing to employees, yet your action represents the opposite, you hinder a successful culture.  An aligned and positive culture can contribute significantly to an organization’s success and even more so in tough times. The behaviors of everyone can contribute to moving forward and reaching your destination points or they can slow you down at the worst possible time. An unaligned (usually unintentionally developed) culture gets in the way. 
 
Cultures poorly aligned to the elements of your strategic framework (why do we exist, how will we behave, what is our value to key stakeholders, where are we going, where are we today, where will we focus our energies) can be damaging and distracting. For instance, when a company needs all employees to become obsessive about excellent customer service due to tighter markets, increased competition or ever higher customer expectations, the culture has to support the employee behaviors necessary to achieve this obsession. This includes building policies and practices that allow employees to make decisions and take risks about satisfying customer requests immediately. For example, if a customer service agent is only allowed to operate ‘by the book’ in addressing customer requests, she/he risks losing a customer when they have a unique need and it requires three levels of approvals to have that need met. 
 
Leaving culture changes to chance is like abandoning one half of your strategic planning framework. It is like pretending that those darn employees and the way they get things done do not really matter to achieving success. There are some core practices and beliefs that drive high performance cultures:

• Clearly define what winning looks like at your company
• Measure what matters and what employees can relate to
• Develop an ownership mentality
• Enable and reward educated risk taking by employees that satisfies and retains customers
• Nurture trust, by involving your employees

These are just a few.  I’d like to hear what your company does to create a culture of success during tough times.