Are You Building Trust With Your Team? 

Your ability to steer your team towards success hinges on how good of a leader you are.  

Your team is constantly observing the way you lead and will shape their behaviours around yours. 

That’s why leaders must be aware of how their actions can change organisational culture.  

Beyond being a simple trait, transparency is a vital leadership skill that can weave trust and harmony throughout an organisation. It’s a trait that can make or break the relationship between each team member, yourself and your clients.  

So, let’s get into how transparency and open communication should be embedded into your leadership style. 

Why Does Transparency Matter?

In a survey conducted by Slack, 55% of leaders believed their organisations are very transparent, while just 18% of employees agreed. In fact, 46% of employees said they had been driven to seek a new job because of a lack of transparency from leadership.  

Picture your business as a greenhouse. The more transparent the windows are, the more the sun can shine light on the plants and help them to grow.   

Similarly, if you want your team to have a genuine passion for helping your business grow, they must be able to see your intentions clearly. To observe the thought processes behind your decisions, the rationale guiding your actions and the genuine intentions driving your leadership.  

Here are some key benefits of transparent leadership:  

1. Effective Communication 

Transparency opens the door for effective communication. It ensures that your employees have all the information they need to complete the tasks presented to them. This then boosts efficiency because, with all the information in front of them, all that’s left is to race ahead—no sitting around and twiddling their thumbs.  

2. Higher Employee Morale and Job Satisfaction 

When you are transparent, it tells your team that you value their role and trust them with important information. Employees who feel trusted and valued are more likely to stick around for longer and invest their time and energy into their work because the company mission is worth contributing to. 

3. Increased Performance 

The success of a business ultimately boils down to results. Transparent leaders will find it much easier to get the best results out of their team because an open and trusting environment makes teams more productive. How? Your employees will feel safer making decisions, and they will communicate better and faster.  

How to Be More Transparent

To be a more transparent leader, you can: 

1. Openly Discuss Company Goals  

Sharing information about the current status of the company and plans for the future makes it easier for your team to trust you. It makes them feel like they are an important part of the next big thing, fostering a strong sense of belonging.  

2. Create a Space for Feedback 

Honest feedback is often hard to give and hard to take. That’s why creating a safe space for feedback and taking their concerns or criticism on board can help to build deep trust. So, get in the habit of asking your employees for feedback regarding the business practices, about deadlines and even about your leadership style. 

3. Honour Your Commitments  

Broken promises are the biggest trust killer. If you say you will do something, make sure you do it. If you fail to do so, permit your employees to hold you accountable. Relationships like this help build trust and mutual respect in the workplace.  

Attain Can Help

For some, transparent leadership is a skill that will come easy. For others, it might feel uncomfortable at first.  

Regardless of your leadership style, developing the right action plan can help develop the leadership skill of transparency. 

That being said, it is often difficult to make self-observations when you have been used to operating that way for so long. That’s where getting external advice can make the difference.  

At Attain, we combine smart tools and training to identify gaps and help you and your team reach your full potential. Our customised leadership training and coaching programmes help define what it means to be a great leader and develop an action plan to transform your leadership style and organisational culture.  

Contact us to see how we can help. 

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