Verification Leads to Trust

Trust your team.  Trust then verify.

As a leader, it is vital to trust your team.  Your team is what helps your organization accomplish great things.  If each individual worked alone much less would get done and the quality of the work would diminish.

Trust keeps the team together.  Think about a time when you lost trust in someone or when you saw someone lose trust in someone else.  That relationship crumbled, communication began to fade, and whatever those two were working on dissolved away.

Trust is earned.  Have we all heard that saying?  Trust is earned though verification.

As leaders we rely on trust, and we build that trust by asking our folks to show us the verification of what they are saying or doing.  “Show me the data” as an old colleague of mine says.

You should be looking for information to back up what they said or why they did what they did.  Who did they speak to, what was their source, what test did they run, why did they come to that conclusion, and the list goes on and on.

There are two objectives here: 1) you want and need to make sure they have sound reasoning to move toward their target goal.  2) you want them to get in the habit of researching and being prepared to defend their work.

Leaders have to allow their team to move forward freely otherwise they will be overwhelmed.  As we pointed out in the Coordination blog, leaders coordinate the specialists.  In this blog, we talk about the trust needed to do that.  By hiring great talent, you have those specialists that can move forward.  That talent comes from verification and that verification leads to the speed and quality to get the job done to everyone’s satisfaction.

Strong reasoning helps people get on the right path from the beginning.  It also allows for staying on the path with stronger adjustments along the way.  Lead to the finish line.  Heading off in the wrong direction or adjusting off the target leads to timing delays, budget expansions, and confidence diminishing.  Don’t destroy the team by winging it.

People should always be able to defend their work.  If they have chosen to go in a direction, why did they do so?

What if they get stopped in the hall by a coworker or upper management?  Will they be able to explain themselves?  A lot of times people within an organization move departments or get promoted.  They may already know or have a good idea what sound reasoning looks like.  If your team member fumbles their response, they could be called out on the spot.  Remember it is the leaders job to make their team look great.  Help your team be prepared by practicing verification.

Managers need to give updates at meetings and in impromptu situations.  Have you gotten in the habit of getting updates from your team, with their reasoning, so that you are prepared for questioning?

This is not to detract from new and unknown exploration.  Sound reasoning and backing up their decisions is still extremely relevant to this as well, in fact, it is probably even more important.  Research and Development (R&D) projects are a risk for companies.  Many do not even take this risk, and when they do, many tie in all sorts of stop gaps as a precautionary (and highly restrictive) control.  If you are lucky enough to head R&D projects, sound reasoning and excellent research will help to gain more budget and time.

Staying on track and completing projects on time and budget is tough enough.  Make sure your team has the best chance of success by verifying actions and reasoning.  Everyone should understand why they are doing what they are doing and should be prepared to give that reasoning.  Trust your team.  Trust then verify.