• Trustworthiness is a key element of leadership.

• If a person is not trustworthy, they will find it a challenge to be successful.

• We can assist our future leaders to acquire the qualities required to be trustworthy.

TRUSTWORTHINESS is the ability to be relied on as honest or truthful.

When a person is trustworthy, they gain acceptance and build relationships.

It is important to instill a sense of trustworthiness at a young age.

LEADERSHIP AND TRUSTWORTHINESS:

When a leader is trusted by their team:

• it increases commitment to team goals.

• communication improves.

• ideas flow more freely.

• creativity increases.

• productivity improves.

• team members are more comfortable with change.

• team members are more willing to embrace a new vision.

When your team doesn’t trust you, you are an ineffective leader.

You don’t get their best effort.

You’ll then find yourself unable to inspire, influence, and create real change.

FOUR QUALITIES OF TRUSTWORTHINESS:

The four qualities of trustworthiness are honesty, reliability, integrity, and loyalty.

HONESTY

• free from lies and deceit;

• acting with transparency;

• always truthful;

• never deceptive;

• reveals untruthful things being done.

RELIABILITY

• can be trusted;

• consistently good in quality and performance;

• reliably carry out responsibilities;

• consistently keep promises.

 INTEGRITY

• consistent in actions, words, and lifestyles;

• demonstrate strong moral values;

• do the right thing rather than what wrong thing everyone else is doing.

LOYALTY

• are faithful;

• show strong feelings of support.

BUILDING TRUSTWORTHINESS:

• Start in small steps by doing small tasks on their own.

• Let them feel confident of their own decisions.

• Teach them to say what they mean and mean what they say.

• During evaluations praise them if they have completed their task.

• If they have not completed tasks, remind them of that and then leave them to do the tasks.

• Inform them of the significance regarding various tasks.

• Discuss how trust can take a long time to build, but can be broken quickly.

• Find a circle of trustworthy friends.

Note: they need to be cautious when choosing who they can trust.

BE A ROLE MODEL

• They are observing you and note how you act.

• Let them realize that they are not the only ones who should deliver.

• Keep yourself accountable as it helps to reinforce what you are teaching them.

• Acknowledge your mistakes in front of them.

• Enable them to follow the example you set.

ACKNOWLEDGE THEM

• Recognize and praise their achievements.

• Give them more responsibility as they demonstrate trustworthiness.

• Should they fail or make a mistake, focus on what they can learn from it.

Please share your ideas and thoughts about trustworthiness. How will this enable our future leaders to gain the communication and leadership skills required in the 21st Century?