THE 13 BEHAVIORS OF A HIGH TRUST LEADER

By Stephen Covey

What separates the great leaders from the good ones? What makes a manager a manager of choice by her reports, peers, and boss? What makes an individual credible with customers, suppliers, distributors, investors, and other stakeholders? While there are many dimensions to these questions, there is one common thread throughout: being an individual who can be trusted.

Perhaps a more important question than, "Who do you trust?" is the far more personal question of,

"Who trusts you?" There are some organizations who ask all their employees directly the following simple, key question in formal 360º feedback processes:

"Do you trust your boss?"

These companies have learned that the answer to this question is more predictive of team and organizational success than perhaps any other question they might ask.

A High Trust Leader is an individual who has unquestionably strong personal credibility, has the ability to create and grow trust with others interpersonally, and who is then able to extend that trust organizationally.

High Trust Leaders are managers of choice who understand the impact trust always plays on two key outcomes—speed and cost—and how low or high trust either extracts a tax or produces a dividend on every activity and dimension within a relationship, team, or organization.

High Trust Leaders have learned how to interact with others in ways that increase trust levels while avoiding the pitfalls that deplete trust. While there are numerous actions and behaviors that affect trust accounts, we have identified the 13 key behaviors that High Trust Leaders have in common (the first five behaviors are primarily character-based; the second five are primarily competence based; the last three are equal parts character and competence).

As you go through these behaviors, you may also find it valuable to consider the opposite of these 13 behaviors and how such "withdrawals" deplete trust.

What’s most exciting is that these 13 Behaviors of High Trust Leaders can be learned and applied by any influencer at any level within any organization. The net result will be a significantly increased ability to generate trust with all stakeholders in order to achieve better results.

The 13 Behaviors of High Trust Leaders are as follows:

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