How to build trust and respect as an emerging business leader?

Anyone in a leadership role must have trust, but those just starting are especially vulnerable. As an emerging business leader, you have a tremendous opportunity to set the tone and shape the culture of your team or organization. It also comes with the responsibility of earning the trust and respect of those you lead.

1. Share leadership opportunities: Provide visibility to high-potential team members. Put others in leadership roles on projects. Success for the entire team builds your leadership brand. Recognize progress and achievements frequently. A hand-written thank you or shout-out in a team meeting makes people feel valued.
2. Connect on a personal level: Get to know people as individuals, not just employees. Build rapport and find common ground through shared experiences and interests. Personal connections, even small talk about family or hobbies, build comfort and trust.
3. Share credit, and take blame: Be generous in recognizing the contributions and hard work of others. But, also be accountable as the leader and take responsibility when goals aren’t met or mistakes are made. Never point fingers or shirk from owning the outcomes of your team.
4. Express empathy: Leadership is about people first and foremost. Recognize that everyone around you is human and doing their best. Express genuine care and concern for others, especially during difficult times. Emotional intelligence builds loyal followers.
5. Develop people: Invest time and energy into mentoring, coaching, and developing the skills and careers of other people. Set your ego aside and focus on unleashing the potential of everyone around you to grow. Making people better builds lasting respect.
6. Maintain transparency: Be open and authentic about decisions, plans, and challenges facing the team or organization. Providing context and rationale builds trust in your leadership, even when people disagree. Uncertainty and not knowing are far bigger concerns.
7. Challenge directly, and praise publicly: Provide constructive feedback and challenge people directly if performance improvements are needed. But recognize achievements, progress, and wins publicly. Both are needed, but the visibility of praise builds respect.
8. Inspire the vision: Connect people to a compelling vision of the future that’s about more than just goals or results. Inspire people around a shared mission and purpose that brings meaning to their work. Inspiration builds engaged followers.
9. Stay humble: No matter how experienced or successful you become, keep succeeding with a team effort. Remain humble, avoid arrogance, and keep an open mind as you gain seniority. Humility builds lasting respect over the long haul.
10. Keep growing: Admit what you don’t know and focus on continual learning and growth. Seek feedback and self-reflect regularly. Growing as a leader builds additional confidence and respect. Individual successes are great but celebrating collective milestones as a team builds camaraderie and pride.

In transitioning to a leadership role, scott biddle scotlynn business opportunities are abundant, but there are also responsibilities. While trust and respect can’t be demanded, they certainly be earned over time through consistent demonstration of the attitudes, mindsets, and behaviors above. By focusing on these areas, any emerging leader builds the foundation for success with their team for years to come.