Category: Building Relationships

Latin Proverb:  It is equally an error to trust all men or no man.

In my post from a week ago, we learned how King David and Jesus built strong teams.  While those examples can be intimidating to folks like you and me, we were encouraged by Patrick Lencioni’s advice to “start by building trust.”

Over the past few years at NASA, we’ve used the FranklinCovey group to provide leadership training on “Leading at the Speed of Trust.”  Based on Stephen M. R. Covey’s 2006 best-seller The Speed of Trust, their approach contends that trust is the one thing that changes everything.  Covey notes that when trust goes up, speed improves, and costs of doing business goes down.  He also notes that to build trust, we must first start with ourselves.  That’s why I like to point out that our most powerful leadership tool is a mirror (see the September 21, 2013 blog post for more on that).  It is particularly challenging to build trust with others in an environment where only one-third of Americans believe that other people can be trusted…

Today, let’s explore how we can inspire trust:  first by starting with our own credibility then by employing 13 behaviors to build trust with others.

Click here to learn more.

It’s February 8^th…the day after “Send a Card to a Friend Day” and just 3 days before “Make a Friend Day”.  If you missed yesterday’s “Send a Card to a Friend Day”, it’s not too late to let a friend know that you appreciate him or her with a handwritten card—how rare are those in these days of e-mail, Facebook, and other social media?

Oh, and get ready now for “Make a Friend Day” on Tuesday, February 11.  So, what do these celebrations have to do with the workplace and “out of this world leadership”?

For years, the Gallup Organization’s research has shown that friendships at work are a critical component of employee engagement and a healthy work environment.  In their famous Q12 (the 12 employee engagement survey questions that differentiate high-performing organizations from the rest), one of the key questions is “I have a best friend at work.”  Their research shows that if you are among the 30% of employees who report having a best friend at work, you are “seven times as likely to be engaged in your job.”  Other findings from their research include:

• People without a best friend at work have a 1 in 12 chance of being engaged in their job.
• Closer friendships at work can increase satisfaction with your company by nearly 50%.
• People with at least 3 close friends at work are 96% more likely to be extremely satisfied with their lives.

So, this Tuesday, I ask, “What better way to break out of the overworked and stressed out state of mind than to make a friend?”  Many of us are busy leading such hectic lives, we barely have time for ourselves…much less developing and maintaining friendships.  Make a Friend Day gives us the perfect opportunity to begin a new friendship…and I’d encourage you to make that new friend at work.

For advice, let’s look to John Maxwell’s Everyone Communicates…Few Connect.  Click here to learn more