Crisis | Leading – The beauty of trust is that it helps you

The beauty of trust is that it helps you through a crisis, even if you build it the day things go wrong. To some extent, trust is built over time, but your ability to build trust is multiplied in a crisis. How can this translate into business? Leaders often prioritize a year, but in a crisis the pace of change means you may need to prioritize a month, a week, or even a day, which your employees may follow. Once you start, clarity grows naturally, and as clarity grows, confidence in your leadership and organization grows exponentially. But be very clear in your words and actions, and confidence will increase immediately, especially in the midst of a crisis. David Horsger, M.S. CSP, CPAE, is CEO of the Trust Edge Leadership Institute, a trust expert at High Point University, and author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller The Trust Edge. Trust is your most important asset in times of crisis and change. In fact, a crisis is the fastest opportunity to build trust. Ask yourself these two questions to guide your actions: first, ask yourself: “What can I control?” It’s tempting to focus on obstacles, but the only thing that matters in a crisis is what you can control, not what you can’t. When your team knows exactly what to focus on, it increases their confidence in your leadership. To emerge from a crisis unscathed, organizations must be able to quickly identify tasks, complete them, and move on. A team with a high level of confidence will be able to make quick decisions and respond quickly to changing situations. But the opposite is also true: In a crisis, it’s important to address one priority at a time. An organization with a high level of confidence will always be able to act faster and build on a solid foundation. His new book, The Trust Leader: The 8 Pillars That Drive Results, describes how to build a foundation of trust throughout your organization.