Don’t be that leader who talks a big game but falls back on old behaviours and emotions when the pressure’s on.
🧠LEARN something.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you already know trust is crucial in leadership and teamwork. But in my experience as a leader, coach, and facilitator, I’ve noticed leaders often overcomplicate and get too “fluffy” about trust-building. Too often, a conversation about trust turns into a long list of personal traits. I’ve also seen people try to “connect” with others through unsolicited personal stories, excessive flattery, forced friendliness, or attempts to use charm and charisma to gain trust. But there’s a better, more surefire way to build trust—one that works in any situation: being consistent and predictable.
We hate unpredictable people. But we trust those who are consistent, even if their behavior isn’t ideal! In fact, as human beings, we are more likely to trust someone who is consistently difficult or consistently late than someone who’s a jerk one day, super nice the next, late one day, and early the next.
When you never really know what to expect from someone, it’s hard to trust them. So, forget the fluff. Be consistent, show up every day, and you’ll build trust faster than any personal characteristic, connection story, charisma, or grand gesture ever could.
🤔 REFLECT on a idea.
“Trust is earned when actions meet words.”
Chris Butler
Consistency isn’t about perfection—it’s about alignment of actions and intent. When your actions consistently reflect your words (also a definition of integrity), then people will know and trust. When they don’t— it creates what psychologist call cognitive dissonance—the mental discomfort we feel when someone’s actions don’t align with their words.
😊 SMILE a little
Why did the unpredictable leader become a Weather Reporter?
Because they’re already an expert at creating a storm out of nowhere!
✅ DO IT to get results
Think about your own leadership style—what’s one thing you do authentically, without trying to be someone else, that you could do more consistently? Try doing that for two weeks and see what happens.
🌱 How we can support you.
We’re a leadership development company with an awesome team of coaches and facilitators, to support you, your leaders and teams, through:
- 1:1 Leadership Coaching for leaders at all levels.
- 1:1 Health & Lifestyle Coaching for busy stressed leaders.
- Workshops, offsites and team development.
- Ask about our flagship Leadership Coaching Programs!
Kenny Bhosale
CEO & Founder, The Bridge Leaders
