Course Outcomes

This leadership course will:

  • Define workplace trust and its role in building effective teams.
  • Explain how trust is an essential element of successful leadership.
  • Look at how trust factors into communication with colleagues, direct reports, and external stakeholders.
  • Review the importance of values and why it is important to define and communicate them.
  • Discuss delegation and coaching to build trust.
  • Explain recognition and how to use it to solidify workplace relationships.

Course Overview

Year after year, Gallup surveys tell us only about 30 percent of the workforce is engaged. In other words, roughly 70 out of 100 the people collecting a paycheck are on autopilot, waiting for retirement, or otherwise not excited to get up and go to work each day. So how do two out of three people end up in a renter’s versus owner’s mindset? Although the specific reason could be anything, chances are somewhere along the way someone failed to trust them to do good work. Or worse still, people in positions of authority violated the trust placed in them by saying one thing and doing another, putting themselves first, or flat out lying. This course discusses the actions leaders can take to encourage ownership in the workplace and build cohesive teams.

The program looks at trust from two angles. The first discusses steps leaders must take to develop confidence and a belief in their team. The second looks at what it means to be believable (trustworthy) and the specific actions people who earn this title take each and every day.

Program Objectives

At this leadership program’s conclusion, participants should be able to:

  • Define trust and its value in the workplace.
  • Describe the importance of articulating and modeling desired leadership and team behaviors.
  • Explain how a lack of integrity can erode trust.
  • Use delegation to engage and develop their direct reports.
  • Strike the right balance of employee oversight.
  • Use questions rather than statements to encourage people to take ownership.
  • Act responsively and receptively to differing ideas, approaches, and opinions.
  • Openly encourage feedback from colleagues, direct reports, and external stakeholders.
  • Recognize others in a way that builds respect.

The following outline highlights some of the course’s key learning points. As part of your training program, we will modify content as needed to meet your business objectives. Upon request, we will provide you with a copy of the participant materials prior to the session(s).

Workshop Outline

Trust: What It Is and Why It Matters

This program opens with an activity designed to illustrate the importance of trust in workplace relationships. In teams, participants will discover what happens when everyone isn’t playing by the same rules. This exercise will serve as a springboard for a discussion around giving and gaining trust with employees, colleagues, superiors, and external stakeholders. After this segment, participants will understand the essential behaviors leaders must exhibit if they wish to build nimble, proactive, and accountable teams.

TORI Theory: How Do You Rank?

When trust increases, defensiveness, and other unproductive behaviors decrease according to Dr. Jack Gibb, a distinguished psychologist and organizational consultant. Often referred to as the grandfather of organizational development, Gibb developed and applied his TORI theory to all kinds of groups. In this segment, participants will complete a self-diagnostic to determine their current levels of Trust, Openness, Realization, and Interdependence. This tool should provide participants with a greater understanding of how they view themselves and the members of their teams.

The Look and Sound of Trustworthy: Do You Walk the Talk?

In this program segment, we’ll consider a leader’s trustworthiness in terms of what we see and hear during the course of normal business interactions. How do you know if a leader is trustworthy? What types of actions does this person take or not take? What types of words does this person usually say or not say? Once those questions are answered, we will work through several short scenarios. Group members will review a variety of situations, consider a series of choices, and determine whether those actions build or break trust.

Getting Everyone on the Same Page: The Importance of Values Explained

As the opening exercise illustrates, when people do not operate under the same paradigm and they are required to work together, distrust, disengagement, and dysfunction soon follow. This part of the program explores the concept of team values and the importance of identifying, communicating, modeling, and rewarding a certain set of behaviors. Through an interactive exercise, workshop participants will have an opportunity to explore, discuss, weigh, and rank various values. By the conclusion of this segment, participants should have a good understanding of how clearly stated values are an essential element of building trust at work.

Lead by Letting Go: Delegating to Create Ownership

Employees who have an ownership mentality take responsibility, think about the future, and look for ways to improve the business. Delegation is a big part of encouraging those behaviors. This seminar segment looks at the ins and outs of effective delegation. Using one of Business Training Works’ proprietary exercises, participants will learn how they can benefit from putting their trust in others. The process can encourage commitment, leverage strengths, and increase efficiency in the workplace. Following the activity, the group will explore the levels of delegation and discuss what, when, and how to assign to others.

Striking a Balance: Using Coaching to Build Trust and Drive Performance

At some point in their careers, most people have worked for someone who micromanaged every detail of a project. It’s not a fun experience. By that same token, neither is working for managers on the other side of the spectrum. The ones who never check in, make us wonder if anyone even cares about what we are doing all day. Leaders who value trust, know how to strike the right balance and use coaching to help everyone do their best. In this part of the course, we will look at coaching to build trust: how to help others learn, the power of asking, and the importance of challenging people to take a next step.

Speaking the Same Language: Understanding Appreciation and Reward

“He asked me for my ideas. I spent all week working on suggestions. I gave them to him, and all he said was ‘thanks.’ I never heard anything else.” Did the manager not like the ideas? Did he even read them? Who knows? What is certain, however, is the employee who put the work into generating them will probably be a little less enthusiastic about contributing in the future, and trust erosion has begun. For some people, a company paycheck is enough. However, most of us want other recognition from our direct supervisors. Drawing on the ideas shared in The 5 Languages of Appreciation at Work, by Gary Chapman and Paul White, this part of the workshop considers how the need for recognition differs from person to person and the five currencies managers can use to show thanks.

By the conclusion of this course, participants will understand how they can use trust to build and sustain positive and productive relationships with employees, colleagues, and other stakeholders.