Lack of trust is the biggest expense to an organization.
It’s the biggest cost you have as an insurance provider, an HR manager or a pension fund manager, said David Horsager, author and business strategist and keynote speaker at Benefits Canada’s Benefits & Pension Summit yesterday in Toronto.
If you think trust is just a soft skill, that it doesn’t affect the bottom line, he continued, think again.
When trust increases, Horsager explained, cost, skepticism, stress and problems decrease, and revenue, morale, loyalty, retention and productivity increase. And the research backs it up.
“Trust is not stated,” he told the audience. “It is earned.”
For Horsager, one key element of successful leaders is trustworthiness. He calls this the “trust edge.”
So how can leaders get this edge? Horsager presented eight pillars of effective leaders.
1. Clarity We follow leaders with a clear vision, he said.
2. Compassion Leaders need compassion and can acquire it through the LAW of compassion: Listen, Appreciate and Wake up. “We can’t wait till later,” he said, adding that it takes work to wake up and be present with people.
3. Character Do what needs to be done when it needs to be done whether you feel like it or not, he said. “People love to work for people who do what they say they’ll do.”
4. Competence Stay fresh, relevant and capable.
5. Commitment If you don’t trust yourself, he said, you will have trouble trusting others and others will have trouble trusting you.
6. Connection The No. 1 trait that a great leader can have is gratitude, said Horsager, adding that if you are grateful, then the negative aspects (the whining, the complaining) will slip away.
7. Contribution We trust contributors, he explained, those who actually give results.
8. Consistency According to Horsager, consistency is the king of the pillars. “If you only do character part of the time, it’s not really character, It’s the little things done consistently that make the biggest difference,” he explained.
“Trust is always a risk,” he said in conclusion. “Trust takes work, but it takes work that’s worth it.”
All the articles from the event can be found on our special section: 2014 Benefits & Pension Summit Coverage.