Trust me

When I moved to India from the US back in 2002, I was a little apprehensive. I knew I would land a job fairly quickly – outsourcing of IT work to India was at a record high at the time – but I worried if I would fit in as a leader. Would the people reporting to me connect with me and trust me? Or would they see me as a “US returned”, one who was disconnected from the realities of life in India? I knew that a lack of trust in a leader can have huge consequences for his/her team members: some would quit and for those who remained, their morale and performance would likely suffer. I also knew that this would have a huge impact on my career.

I decided to set aside my anxieties and instead focus on a few crucial steps in the first week at a company that hired me:

• I showed up. I knew that avoiding meeting my team and hiding in a cabin would send the wrong message. I made it a point to organize a short meeting with everyone in a conference room for my very first day at work. I introduced myself and said, “I am looking forward to getting to know all of you and working with you. I shall schedule one-on-one meetings with each of you in the next few days to understand what you do and your impact on your client.” I remember I wrote my phone number and email address on the white-board and told them I was always reachable.
• I was clear. In my first few emails and conversations, I made sure my language was simple; I avoided fancy words. While some IT jargon must have slipped in, I avoided words that would be more suited to an American audience. I was direct when talking of my plans and in what I expected from them.
• I sought to learn. I spent time with the team, both the Project Managers and their team members, to learn about them and their work. I took copious notes in all these meetings and I realized that the more I learned about them, the more I came to appreciate them.

When senior leaders need to reach hundreds if not thousands of employees, many of them in far-flung corners of the world, they use virtual town-halls, webcasts and emails. In the absence of a personal relationship, employees have only the leader’s words to go by, to understand, to trust, to soldier on. These words become immeasurably important when the times are tough and the leader has bad news to share. How then, does a leader earn trust in these circumstances? After looking at a few recent communications by leaders, I see that the best ones have the following in common:

• The tone is personal. The leader uses “I” more than “we” or “the company”. There is a sense of clear ownership and immediate presence.
• The leader uses simple, uncomplicated language – you will not need a dictionary to understand what is being said. There is an elegant structure to the communication too that is easy to follow.
• With abundant transparency and detail, the leader explains how difficult decisions were made. Of course, this is possible only when the process is fair and impartial.
• The leader tries to minimize uncertainty as much as possible. Employees will want to know if they are affected and how, and leaders address this concern by confirming what they know and accepting what they don’t yet fully know.
• Good leaders demonstrate empathy and care – if there is going to be round of lay-offs, they tell their soon-to-be-former employees what help they can expect from the company in the next few days to get back on their feet.

An exemplar of such a communication is the lay-off note by Brian Chesky, the CEO of Airbnb, in May 2020. What impressed me most about this letter was that he wrote it himself painstakingly in clear, accessible language. What also impressed me was that he did not use vague or grandiose pronouncements but got very specific on what he was going to do to help those who had to go.

I’d always associated trust with honesty and integrity but with time, I came to see that trust is also earned through competence and care. Leaders demonstrate all of these traits in how they communicate, especially in trying times. Please share your thoughts on this topic as well as other great examples of such communication.