Managers: Performance Comes From Trust. Here’s How To Build It

How trust helped me retain my high-performing team for 8 years across 2 companies

Having a great manager is the difference between a team that soars and a team that flounders. In fact, a study by Harvard Business Review showed that 77% of respondents said that frontline managers were important in helping a business reach its goals. Yet the same report shows that 12% believe that the organization invests in the development of these managers. And it shows! Think back on your professional history and I’ll bet you had managers who were promoted into management without the right tools or framework to support their people. Add to this the very human tendency for us to hide the things that are hard for us and it’s a recipe for a disaster.

When I first started my career, I managed my team like I had been managed. I set goals and let them go. I said, “If you have a problem, come and find me.” I left it up to them to loop me in when they needed support. But, when we learn that needing support is a sign of weakness or poor performance, we don’t feel safe asking for it. My team ended up hiding their problems. I was left out of the loop on what they were doing, what their roadblocks were, and what they were going through. I felt like I was always running after a train that…