Above all, be trustworthy.

Building trust with your employees and business associates, like establishing trust with family and friends, is a matter of being reliable and dependable all the time. It is hard to repair broken trust. Hemingway said, “The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.”

Leadership traits that matter in establishing trust within your organization:

• Having the competence with the skills and knowledge required to do your job.
• Being consistent in meeting commitments.
• Acting with integrity.
• Accepting responsibility for your mistakes rather than shifting of blame or accountability to someone else. That includes things you do and don’t do.
• Recognizing and celebrating the accomplishment of others.
• Showing respect for people in your organization, regardless of their position.  All employees are valuable.
• Not breaking promises. If there are circumstances beyond your control that prevent you from delivering on a promise, let employees know the truth about what happened.
• Listening and striving to understand the perspectives of others. Being open to the views of a diverse workforce, and allowing those viewpoints to be understood and respected by other employees.
• Being sincere in all interactions. Others will quickly recognize statements, actions, or compliments that are insincere.
• Supporting your employees, even in the face of criticism from someone else. Provide constructive criticism in private.
• Keeping the interest of employees at heart.