Trust Enables

My family and I just returned from a long weekend in Central Wisconsin.  It was a nice time, but the phenomenon of road travel lingers with me as much as the event now that I am home.

You see, an interesting thing happens in my family when we take a long car ride together–certainly you have experienced it too: people who are not driving fall asleep.  As we travelled home yesterday, I had a moment to contemplate this as I was moving 5 mph through a traffic jam.  It occurred to me in that moment that my family falling asleep is as much about my leadership as it is about their fatigue from the weekend’s events.

They trust me.

They know that when they wake up, we will be closer to home–our desired destination–than when we started.  We won’t have veered off course accidentally, or changed directions to head somewhere else without their knowledge or consent.  In fact, it is unlikely that we will even have altered the course we set out for ourselves ahead of time.

They trust me because they have had a voice in the plan.  They want to go home, and they know that I can get them there.  In fact, it is more than just sleep that they are free to pursue as a result of this knowledge–they can watch a movie, eat, play games, talk…  everything they do on the trip comes from trusting that the destination hasn’t changed, and that I, as the leader of our family, am the most qualified person to get them where they want to go.

Imagine the scene if this trust didn’t exist: 2 back seat drivers, 2 front seat drivers, debates about the merits of each prospective route, discontent with their roles…

But none of this happens because of trust.  I have capital with them; they’ll even forgive me if I make a mistake and get us lost temporarily (which happens sometimes).  They’ll give me the flexibility to take a different route if we run into traffic; change the plan if bad weather arises and we need to stop for a while (which also happens sometimes). 

It is easy, of course, to accomplish this for a 3 hour car ride.  However, the principle for leading in other situations follows a similar formula. 

Do you have trust capital with your constituents? 
What are you doing/What have you done to establish it? 
Do you need to build more before you can change the plan or take a risk? 
Have you communicated the destination and involved them in the process of planning?
Are your people free to do other things because of the trust they have in your leadership?

Trust enables your destination, your people and your leadership.

~ by stoshdwalsh on February 25, 2008.