Truth 36. Trust is a currency not easily earned, but easily spent

Former presidential candidate Gary Hart stated something to the effect of "Do as I say, not as I do." Charles Barkley, former professional basketball superstar, once claimed that he's "not a role model." In our Catholic churches, it's getting increasingly difficult to find an archdiocese not haunted by scandal.

In corporate America, despite or perhaps because of additional corporate governance, there has been a reported increase in the discovery and subsequent reporting of corner office misleading and misdoing. You need only to pick up the day's newspaper to read who is now in trouble, claiming innocence as the handcuffs are applied.

Unfortunately, we live in skeptical, if not pessimistic, times when it comes to personal accountability and trust.

The good news is that it need not be that way.

Trust is the glue that holds together all relationships. It makes organizations work. It's the most significant predictor of individuals' satisfaction with their organizations.

Trust is a character issue. You have direct control over it. If you want the trust of your team, you can't delegate responsibility for or claim ignorance of values or ethics. You must, by example and in all interactions, act and direct in a way that is consistent with the expected organizational values and norms for behavior, making the proper choices in ethical and moral matters. This is leadership personified.

There are only two ways to earn trust—having congruence between your words and your actions, and showing that you care.

As research indicates that most of us gain our understanding of the corporate world through upward observation, here are some tips to keep in mind as your team is watching you:

• Lead by example.
• Never ask someone to do something that you wouldn't do yourself; therefore, be sure to occasionally work or be in attendance for an off-shift or holiday.
• Set an example with your presence. Arrive early; stay a little later. Get to meetings on time and be prepared. Return phone calls on the same business day. Address everyone in a manner reflective of a business setting. Dress appropriately.
• If you work in a "staff" role, consider getting to occasional operations meetings, thereby enhancing your business knowledge, while keeping your team concurrently informed.
• If you work in a large facility with a shop floor, consider a satellite office or desk closer to the operations, or at least dedicating part of your time to being accessible to the broader population. If your team is geographically diverse, try to get some time in the field.
• Recognize that how and where you spend your time is important; pushing paper may endear you to a few, but not many. Face-to-face dialogue and exchange should be encouraged. Also, are you devoting your time on priorities or getting lost in the detail of lesser issues? Are you expressing concerns or being a church mouse?
• Never let your guard down.
  Reacting to a tragedy in which a groom-to-be was shot and killed by 51 bullets from the guns of New York City police officers in November 2006, Mayor Michael Bloomberg raised the observation that people should use restraint before rushing to judgment. In further commenting on the matter—in a seeming contradictory manner to his own advice—he also said that the number of shots seemed excessive.
  He later clarified his "excessive" observation by stating that he was speaking not as a mayor, but as a private citizen.
  In the eyes of all of his constituents, Mayor Bloomberg isn't and will never be a private citizen.
  Whether you're at work, a social gathering, a service award dinner, or the company's holiday party, you're always a leader.
• Unless what you're told jeopardizes someone's safety or violates the law or a company policy, you must safeguard confidences at all times.
• Show your vulnerabilities. Your team can help you develop professionally.
• Carry a sense of humor. It's important, and it can be the needed organizational medicine. A manager should laugh first at himself or herself, and others thereafter.
• Admitting mistakes and learning from them is part of individual and collective growth and maturity. It also demonstrates confidence and humility, and it may be a platform for renewed team unity. JetBlue's CEO and founder, David Neeleman, is an example of this, taking the debacle of the 2007 Valentine's Day storm that snarled air traffic for days and turning it into an opportunity and pledge for better customer service going forward.
• Learn how to lose. You will mess up. Learn from the experience, recover, and apply the new knowledge. It will not be the end of your career. Pick up, brush off, and move forward.
• Set standards for productivity and quality, and then walk the talk. If you want people to model their behavior after you—and they will—you must practice what you preach.
• Take every opportunity to show that you care deeply about the well-being of every employee, as well as for the long-term interests of the organization.

One cautionary note: The fastest way to vanquish credibility and trust is to create a double standard around your words and actions. Some of the most violated examples of this organizational incongruity are in the cost-cutting area when exceptions are made to a hiring freeze or the elimination of consultants; a travel ban or the elimination of certain reimbursements; or new expense guidelines. It never seems to fail that the party making the exceptions is the one mandating the broader need for them.