Trust Based Leadership
Leaders at all levels of the organization management act as the lead entity, because they determine the purposefulness of the team, recruitment, psychological climate and other valuable aspects of the enterprise.
Leadership is the ability to influence individuals and groups, encouraging them to work on achieving the goals of the organization. One of the most important characteristics of the leader’s activity is the style of leadership. Leadership style is a style of management behavior towards subordinates, which is established in order to influence them and encourage the achievement of organizational goals. Leader is the organizer of the control system. Management of the groups and teams takes the form of guidance and leadership. These two forms of management have similarities.
According to Hamilton, there are three main leadership styles. These are authoritarian style, democratic and laissez-faire leadership styles (Hamilton, 2011). Authoritarian leadership style is characterized by rigidity, demanding, unity of command, the prevalence of power functions, strict control and discipline, focus on output, ignorance of the social and psychological factors and others. Democratic leadership style is based on collegiality, trust, informing subordinates, initiative, creativity, self-discipline, awareness, responsibility, promotion, publicity, orientation not only on the results, but also on the ways of achieving them. Hamilton (2011) states that laissez-faire leadership style “is best characterized by leaders who are not involved with the team’s decisions making…” (272). Work assignment and evaluation of the task are performed by team members themselves.
A very complex issue is that of selection of a leader for every team. There are usually two questions: how to find good employees and what bases of creation a team will be more relevance for a leader. Many critics have come to a conclusion that trust is the basis of how a leader can help employees reach their full potential.
Management is a social technology, a useful art. It is know-how about how to build communication with employees on one hand. The art of a leader is that he/she must be able to form an emotional atmosphere relying on his/her intuition. Staff members are very different, so a leader must have as communicative technologies and rely on the intuition which is very important.
Leadership is a social technology. People should not be treated like computers, and it would be an illusion to believe that an organization can be managed as a computer system. There are lots of social issues that also need to be considered. Often leadership is based on the idea that the organization is a system that is necessary to form in such a way that a leader could control everything. However, the experience has shown that this is a very big misleading. Luckily, everyone is different. If, for example, ask any employees about how they would like to work, the answer will be the presence of freedom of action, the space for creativity and creation. However, this space should not be chaotic at the same time, but have limits. Then, the manager who comes into the organization or creates a new one, worth asking of how to create such a framework conditions for the staff so that they will be able to reach their potential, their ability, to enable them to realize their full potential. The way of thinking based on the formula, on which a leader will pay and employees should do the job, can be compared with the work of the machine when a coin is tossed, and a can of drink can be taken, for example. However, people are not machines (Rickards, 2005).
At one time, people were tried to be replaced with robots. It was very convenient on one hand. However, an experience has shown that such technology can be implemented only in those areas where creativity is not a must, along with its innovative approach. It is not suitable for areas where some challenge is needed along with an ability to create or disclose any potential. Such a scheme does not work in these areas. The European experience has shown that many companies and organizations, which have tried to automate as much as possible their performance, have failed. Sorrowful events in March in Japan may be one of the lessons that we cannot control everything. Japan is a very technological country. However, there are things that cannot be foreseen and controlled. A good worker does not require in control.
If a manager believes that he/she should control employees, they will not work without this distrust to people. A person whose internal representations are based on mistrust will transmit it to the outside world and create and shape the organization and team, based on mistrust. This person will seek any confirmations of his/her beliefs. Such person will check everything three times, whether the employees are working in a good way or not. People will definitely do something wrong when they are constantly afraid of doing it (Rickards, 2005).
There is nothing wrong with control in itself. However, the question is what form of control is useful. For example, if a person does something and checks himself whether the work is correct or not, whether the result of work is that this person has wanted to achieve, then it is normal. Self-control is always very useful.
Twenty years ago in Germany, a study was conducted regarding the testing of how effective the automobile industry operates all over the globe. The study was aimed at improving efficiency. Production looked in the next way at plants in Europe. A vehicle was produced. Then it was taken control for determining whether everything was done correctly and whether there were any deficiencies. The finishing stage came after that, and the vehicle went on sale. However, it turned out that three stages of producing vehicles in Germany took the same time as at the Toyota company. The quality was higher at Toyota plant, although there were no improvements and control at that plant. This cased a big shock at first because the German producers were very surprised that vehicles were made without the verification process and improvements in Japan, but the quality of the vehicle were better. Then hundreds of managers went to Japan at Toyota and watched, studied, investigated their experience in order to find out what they were doing better. It turned out that the leader of Toyota, who was a brilliant organizer, believed that every employee who was working on the plot, were able to produce the quality that was necessary to the enterprise. Each employee had a button or bell, by which they could give a signal in any case and stop the assembly line if any employee made a mistake or he/she lacked or had not added up something. For Germany it was impossible to imagine. It was believed that the stop of the production process would be incredibly expensive. The tasks of Toyota managers were to ensure that their employees produced good quality. This is why they had to create the framework conditions, so people could work well.
It is necessary to trust the employees and believe in their performance in future. It is also necessary to create the framework conditions for them, in which they will be able to motivate themselves and work properly. A good leader should consider many details. For example, a clean workplace, sanitary facilities, light, air, good clothes, good atmosphere, food, light colors and other conditions. Today, many automobile plans in Europe are perfectly clean. The staff is dressed in light clothes and everything is comfortable for the performance (Sheldrake, 2003).
Is it necessary to pay attention to whether it is possible to trust recruit, while sectioning of staff or it is necessary to trust any employee? Leaders often resume if the actions of an employee and an employer are independent of each other. It is impossible for an employee to earn the trust at the beginning if employers do not trust people initially and think that they cannot be trusted. Employers should not think that the issue is about blind trust any person on the street. It is about three important aspects that must match. A blind trust can be compared with the fact that a person is thrown in the middle of the ocean, and the other person believes that he/she can come out of it. If, for example, throw a person in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in a boat, give him/her two paddles and say that another person believes that he/she can come out of it. Everything depends on how far he/she is from the shore, how much power he/she has and whether he/she will be able to manage this boat. Speaking about an organization, it should be remembered that the trust is an inseparable landmark. An employee needs to know in which direction to move. Managers and staff need to have an appropriate behavior and course of action among them for cooperation. They should be consistent with each other in their work; they should be able to tell each other what they disagree on and what they appreciate.
It is not always fun and easy to learn to work focusing on trust. Any clashes and tough discussions and showdowns are challenging but they should come not in the form of criticism but in the form of feedback. Leaders and employees should be able to freely express their opinions. Another very important thing is an ability to base the actions on respect. People should keep asking themselves whether they respect their customers or their partners/co-workers. Such system will function well in any organization, once it is properly built.
There is a common problem in Europe, when a leader is often not enough qualified and trained and does not possess the necessary managerial traits. People do not have enough education, knowledge and skills of how to be a leader. The best employee, who is the best expert in the area, is often put as a manager. However, it is necessary to accept the fact that there is a separate sphere of knowledge of how properly and competently lead. Leading is an applied art. It is a calling on one hand, and an art, on the other hand. Calling is a technology mechanism, and art is an intuition.
Certain principles can be highlighted in order to help form the faith and trust of the subordinates to a leader. First is the open practice of the attitude towards people. Distrust usually occurs when people are in obscurity. Openness contributes to the formation of the atmosphere of confidence and trust. Leaders should inform employees about all that is happening in the company as comprehensively as possible. It is also necessary to develop criteria, on which decisions will be made in public and will be understood by everyone, explain people the content of the decisions made by a leader along with the reasons for which a certain solution has been made. Leaders should not hide problems but introduce the employees to all the information needed for understanding the vital problems. Leaders should try to predict the reaction of employees before making a particular decision. Leaders should praise their employees if they deserve it. They can also objectively and fairly assess the results of performance and make sure that rewards are distributed fairly. Leaders should not hide their feelings and emotions. If they share their emotions, the staff will see them as humane leaders. Thus, the employees will respect their leaders more. Leaders must always tell the truth because it is necessary for creating an atmosphere of trust. The employees are much more tolerant to a bitter truth than the sweet injustice. Persistence is important in leadership because people want predictability of their leaders. Distrust arises from the fact that the staff do not know what to expect from a leader. The necessity to perform the promises plays a vital role because confidence is generated on the reliability. Leader has to be able to keep other people’s secrets because people usually believe those leaders whom they can trust. The last apsect is the demonstration of competence. Leaders should form a relationship of admiration and respect from employees; they should also show their technical skills and professional abilities in full (Sheldrake, 2003).
Thus, leadership is the ability to influence individuals and groups, encouraging them to work on achieving the goals of the organization. One of the most important characteristics of the activity of the leader is the style of leadership. A very complex issue is the issue of selection of a team for every leader. There are usually two questions: how to find good employees and what bases of team creation will be more relevant for a leader. Many critical have come to a conclusion that trust is the basis of how a leader can help employees reach their full potential. It is necessary to trust the employees, believe in their performance, and create the framework conditions for them, in which they will be able to motivate themselves and work properly. It is also necessary to pay attention to whether it is possible to trust recruit while sectioning of staff or it is necessary to trust any employee. All these details will help a leader gain respect and effective performance from the employees.