How many of the five points below apply to you?
They are all positive; the more apply to you, the better.
Below, you will find an explanation of each.
Five signs you are good at feeling trustworthy as a manager
You make fair decisions and they are perceived as fair.
People trust you are an effective manager.
People trust you have strong values.
You explain your actions.
You walk your talk.
The five signs, explained
1. You make fair decisions and they are perceived as fair
The first part is obvious. Of course, if you want to be trusted as a manager, you must make fair decisions.
The second part is less obvious. I know many managers who make fair decisions yet are perceived as unfair, usually because they didn’t communicate the criteria for the decisions.
If you want to be regarded as a fair manager, not only should you make fair decisions, but you should also explain them twice. First, well before you make a decision, you should have already explained which criteria you will follow. Second, after you make a decision, you should repeat the criteria you followed.
Failure to do either opens the door to being regarded as unfair.
2. People trust you are an effective manager
People won’t really trust you as a manager if they don’t think you’re an effective one.
If you merely are friendly and show you have their best interests at heart, they might trust you with some personal conversation, but they might still not trust you as a manager. They might still think you aren’t able to take care of them and their career, they might still not trust that if they work on what you ask them to work, it won’t be wasted effort, and they might still not trust that your feedback is useful.
To be trusted as a manager, you must demonstrate you are an effective one.
And the best way to do so is through a track record of “your actions lead to positive outcomes.”
3. People trust you have strong values
The one defining trait of leaders – not just business leaders but also community leaders, religious leaders, and so on – is their extremely strong values.
Strong values engender trust because they make behavior predictable. If an employee knows that their manager values honesty, they know they can raise a problem without fear of repercussion, much more than with a manager who is “their friend” but doesn’t have a strong regard for honesty.
The more you demonstrate (with costly action) that you have strong values, the more people will trust you.
4. You explain your actions
If you don’t explain why you took the actions you took, people will guess.
And if they guess, they might come up with the wrong explanations for your actions.
And if those wrong explanations put you in a bad light, they will trust you less.
Great managers always explain why they act the way they do. Not only it’s an opportunity to teach valuable skills, but it also builds and preserves trust.
5. You walk your talk
This is for two reasons:
If you don’t practice what you ask of others, they will infer it’s not important or you don’t really care.
People don’t remember the 99 times when you did what you said you would, but the one time when you didn’t.
Treat your words as promises never to be broken, and hold yourself up at least to the standards you request of others.
That was it. How many of the five points apply to you?
This article is the last of a six-part series of self-assessments on people-management habits. Here are parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Subscribe to this newsletter to receive more articles on people management.
You might also be interested in my online course on managing remote or hybrid teams.