I.C.E.D.A.R.T.S Session 4: Development and Trust
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Development
A stagnant pond breeds nothing but mosquitos and discourages people from visiting or staying.
George Dawson was an Afro-American man born in 1898 and who died in 2001. He learnt to read and write at the grand old age of 98. He inspired others simply by his demeanour and attendance at night school. He was motivated to learn and develop. You can read more about George in the book, ‘Life is so Good.’
What development path are you providing for your team? Who has stagnated and seems resistant to learning? What will it take to get them moving – to learn or to leave? What is their impact on your business if they stay and remain stagnant?
One of the most significant threats to workplace health are middle managers who have plateaued in their careers and spend more time considering their superannuation than innovations at work.
Sit down with each of your team and discuss their respective development needs. It is a joint responsibility and a great opportunity for you to engage with each member and apply your coaching skills.
Warning: If you do not have a healthy turn-over of staff at various levels, your whole pond will start to stagnate and you will end up with a mosquito infestation…
Trust
If you have ever had your trust broken by a friend, workmate, partner, relative or boss (and most of us have!), you will know the devastating effect it can have. Most of us are also probably familiar with the difficult task of attempting to rebuild trust. It takes considerable time and often the same level cannot be restored despite our best attempts.
There are essentially two key ways to build trust. The first is by acting consistently over a significant period of time. DWYSYWD – doing what you say you will do when engaging with your team and other stakeholders. The second is acting in a noble way in a crisis situation.
Most of us have experience with the first and can probably think of one or more leaders whom they would follow because the trust has been built. Ask yourself what is it about their behaviour that makes you trust them? By applying the ICEDARTS principles, you can build a strong level of trust with your team and achieve outstanding outcomes. On the other hand, if trust is low, your outcomes will be limited.
A key question you may reflect on is, ‘Do I do what I say I am going to do?’ Are there times that I don’t? What is the likely impact if/when I don’t? Have I failed to follow through on something that was important for my team?
If you have lost the trust of your team, consider how you can rebuild it (apologise and start to DWYSYWD) or consider changing teams and learning from your mistake. Trust is a tricky beast.
This is the last module in the series of ICEDARTS. Each element of this model is inter-dependent on the other elements. You need to consider them holistically to get a full appreciation of the model’s power and application. Scoring yourself out of 10 against each element is a good start. This presentation is brought to you by Leadership Matters.
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