Why Communication is Important for Building Trust

Our standard Check Ride assessment focuses on two critical aspects of leadership: Building Trust, and Building Confidence.  Without these two things, you can manage a team, but you will have immense difficulty leading a team.

The first criteria we look at in Building Trust is to "Communicate openly, transparently, and clearly with focus and conviction."  So, why is this important?

I would be shocked if at this exact moment you didn't have a number of reasons why this is important popping up in your head but let's look at a few anyway.  

In my experience, I have found it very difficult to trust someone I couldn't see through.  What I mean by that, is that if I cannot see your role in the team, your motivations, and your actions that back those up, I begin to wonder, what hidden agenda are you pushing?  That isn't me trusting you, that is just the opposite.

In line with that, it isn't just that communication is open and transparent, it needs to be clear, comprehensive, and confident.  Leaders know where they are going, and demonstrating to your followers not only that you have a clear vision, but that you believe in it, boosts that trust.

What other reasons have you seen that demonstrate why communication is important for building trust?

-Alexander Cook MEng, MBA, PEng, PMP

Image Source: https://www.xremo.com/blogs/7

Taking flight: What fighter pilots know that business leaders can learn from

Leading others to achieve specified goals can be challenging, but leading them at high speed carries its own challenge. In the picture above, I am standing beside Captain Terry "Cherry" Colgrave after a CF-18 Hornet Flight we completed in August 2012 as part of my Investiture as Honorary Colonel of 419 Tactical Fighter Training Squadron. "Cherry" was the Flight Lead for this two-plane mission and I was his 'back-seater'.

Our mission included a range familiarization, Basic Fighter Manoeuvres, Close Formation, and Low Level Navigation-all at speeds ranging from very slow to transonic (that's very fast!). In thinking about this flight, I am struck by the resonance I sensed between the Leadership qualities "Cherry" demonstrated and those I see in the Business Leaders I work with in Calgary. The critical difference is that "Cherry" and those like him lead others, sometimes many others, to accomplish difficult objectives in dangerous places at great speed. Mission Success comes with careful mission planning and preparation, high Situational Awareness, Clear Communications with all Team Members and Fast Forward Thinking. Mission Success is defined in the pre-flight briefing; assessed during the flight by the Instructor Pilot; and constructively critiqued in the post-flight 'debriefing'. As this process has proven, Fighter Pilot Students who can translate the lessons learned during each phase of this learning experience into higher levels of performance in the next flight are the ones who make it. Those who cannot quickly integrate these lessons, self-identify by their performance and do not progress on to become full-fledged Fighter Pilots.

None of this happens by accident and Leaders like "Cherry" take many years to develop only after they demonstrate that they can be the 'best of the best'. In my capacity as Honorary Colonel, I have a privileged vantage point to witness this development process every time I engage with the Instructors and Staff of 419 Tactical Fighter Training Squadron. Their tremendous results are a reflection of the continued development of the Mission Preparation skills, Flying skills, Leadership skills, Teamwork skills and Communications skills of their aspiring Fighter Pilot Students.

This causes me to ask you, as Business Leaders, what you are doing to foster the development of the Business Skills, Leadership skills, Teamwork skills and Communications skills of your aspiring Leadership Team Members? Are you seeing the development you and your business need and want? If not, why not?

A measurement that I apply to myself is the answer to the following questions:

• Are the people that are meant to follow me reaching their potential contribution level?

• If not, what part am I playing to ensure that they do?

-Lieutenant Colonel (ret'd) Ron Guidinger BEng, MBA, PEng, PMP

Improving Team Performance Through Connection

Leading others is not without risk, nor is it for the faint of heart. As important as it is for you as a Leader to set the goal to be achieved, it is more important to sense how things change as your Followers begin to align their efforts to support you. In some cases, this alignment among Team Members generates a momentum towards successful achievement of the goal that is unstoppable. Other times, factors of mis-alignment, significant changes in the environment, and unforeseen constraints pop up that are signals for you to review your approach. The key to any such review is to connect with your Followers.

Staying closely and personally connected to those who follow your lead will provide the early warning signs of emerging problem areas. Taking a moment to embrace the points of view expressed by your Followers will arm you, as their leader, with rich and immediate understanding of root causes for mis-alignments in the Team, surprises in the surrounding situation and shortages in resources or other constraints that will affect goal achievement. Not only will this close connection to your Followers enable you to act early but, also, to act in a manner informed by the collective experience and expertise of your Team.

Experience has taught me that my best and most immediate source of validation for any Leadership approach I take, is my Team. When I have embraced them, sought their feedback about what is working and what is not working, I have been able to accelerate performance. When I have relied on my own counsel, without a close personal connection to my Team, I have floundered and lost my way. A Team needs a good Leader. Leaders need to embrace their Team to be good.

-Lieutenant Colonel (ret'd) Ron Guidinger BEng, MBA, PEng, PMP