For many years, I taught people that during organizational change, leaders are gardeners of trust. This is based on the recognition that followers place their trust in us as leaders when we all move forward together through the normal, and yet dynamic, elements of improvement and innovation at an organizational level. The reality is that to be a gardener of trust we need to grow trusting work relationships based on clarity, integrity, and compassion.
Robert Galford and Anne Seibold Drapeau in their article, ”The Enemies of Trust" in the February 2003 issue of the Harvard Business Review, write that there are three levels of trust. The first is personal trust, namely "the trust employees have in their own managers.” The second is strategic trust, namely "the trust employees have in the people running the show to make the right strategic decisions.” I also believe that strategic trust encompasses the trust people have in their team leader and in their team. The third is organizational trust, namely "the trust people have not in any individual but in the company itself.” When dealing with the intersection of complexity and adaptivity, we need to grow trust in all of the aforementioned areas. However, there is one area that unlocks the other two, namely strategic trust or team based trust.
Patrick Lencioni in his wildly popular book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (Jossey-Bass, 2002), writes that the true measure of a team is its ability to achieve results over time. He recognizes that “trust is the foundation of teamwork.” As he explain, the absence of trust is present when there is a “failure on the part of team members to understand and open up to one another,” and when there is a “lack of debate that exists during staff meetings.” During complexity, this lack of trust and this lack of healthy debate during meetings hinders the capacity of people and the team to commit to a plan, i.e. lack of understanding and ownership of the plan, and their ability to execute the plan.
Lencioni further explains: “The only way to rebuild trust is to overcome our need for invulnerability.” He points out that “The most important action that a leader must take to encourage the building of trust on a team is to demonstrate vulnerability first.” While many before and after him have pointed out the importance of “vulnerability-based trust,” I don’t think many leaders see this as a viable strategy when dealing with complexity. Most frame it up as scary and uncomfortable during times of risk and uncertainty that comes with complex situations and adaptive challenges.
I believe the idea of being vulnerable as a leader and to do this as a means to build trust is incomprehensible to many people. This is because they frame up vulnerability as an act of weakness, rather than a measure of courage. Brene’ Brown in her book, Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience (Random House, 2021), writes “While these are uncomfortable and difficult experiences [of being vulnerable], there is no evidence that they are indicators of weakness. In fact, this is one of the biggest myths of vulnerability. We’ve found that across cultures, most of us were raised to believe that being vulnerable is being weak. This sets up an unresolvable tension for most of us, because we were also raised to be brave. There is no courage without vulnerability. Courage requires the willingness to lean into uncertainty, risk and emotional exposure.”
And we need to remember that in the land of complexity, many, if not most, challenges are adaptive in nature. They are defined as ones that call into question fundamental assumptions and beliefs and can only be address through changes in one’s priorities, beliefs, habits, and ways of working. In essence, adaptive challenges require new ways of thinking and sharing.
When we bring together all of the characteristics of adaptive challenges in one spot, we realize that feeling vulnerable at an individual and team level is an inherent part of dealing with these challenges. We need to recognize that at the intersection of complexity and adaptivity, we can not avoid vulnerability and it is not a sign of weakness. Instead, we need to “embrace vulnerability,” notes Brene’ Brown. As she continues, “If we can’t handle uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure in a way that aligns with our values and furthers our organizational goals, we can’t lead.”
Patrick Lencioni in his book, The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business (Jossey-Bass, 2012, understands this when he wrote: “The only way for the leader of a team to create a safe environment for his team members to be vulnerable is by stepping up and doing something that feels unsafe and uncomfortable first.” When he or she role models vulnerability as a way of building trust, they recognize that team based trust is the foundation for individual and collective action. Brene Brown confirms this in the aforementioned book when she writes, “Vulnerability is not weakness; it is our greatest measure of courage.” And when presented with complex and adaptive problems, we need leaders and teams to be courageous and connected to each other through healthy levels of trust.
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