Today, on Memorial Day, as we honor our military men and women who have served and died for our country, I thought it might be apropos to share the 3 C’s of trust published by naval academy graduate and helicopter pilot Philip Gift in The Military Leader.
Gift says that building trust boils down to three fundamentals: 1) Competence; 2) Caring; and 3) Communication. Here are a few insights that he shares about the 3 C’s:
- If people are not competent, then no matter what is promised, they will not be able to deliver.
- If people don’t care about the other members of the workforce, then there is no guarantee that they will keep their word when a better deal arises.
- No matter how competent people are or how much they care, if they cannot communicate that information to other people, then trust will never grow.
Given the importance of competence, care, and communication in building trust, here are some questions for you to consider about your own leadership.
Competence: Are you competent in the job you currently hold? Do you understand your leadership role and your impact on others? What steps can you take to improve your effectiveness as a leader?
Caring: Do you care about your organization and the people who report to you? What do you do specifically to demonstrate that care? Do you listen to your employees and take time to learn more about them as whole people? How do you support them with the necessary tools and resources to accomplish their jobs? What growth opportunities can you give them?
Communication: How well do you communicate your ideas and decisions? Do you find that people understand what you are trying to convey? What do you do to ensure effective two-way communication? When do you opt for face-to-face meetings, email, memos, phone and online meetings? Do your communication strategies and modes seem to work well? What can you do to improve your communications?
While I work hard to demonstrate caring with my team members, when I’m overloaded, it sometimes falls by the wayside. The last couple of months have been so frenetic, that I haven’t had much time to check in with each staff member individually to see how things are going. This week I’m going take extra time to do just that.
In the next week, I challenge you to take one of the 3 C’s and see how you can work to enhance trust with your team as well.
Anita Rios
Higher EDge 