Position to Permission - Trust

In the last post we discussed the first stringer connecting the position and permission rungs, effective communication.  The other stringer is trust.  When you communicate with people in a way that connects with them there is an element of risk involved on their part.  Their decision to give you permission to lead hinges on can they trust you to deliver.  We live in a world full of disappointment, frustration, and hurt.  People are unwilling to risk additional disappointed unless they can manage that risk by finding a reason to trust you, a reason to see you as different from the rest.  Leaders need to take this responsibility seriously.  It is an opportunity, an honor, to be afforded permission to lead.  It isn’t a right we as positional leaders are granted but rather an opportunity given to us by those we lead.  

The challenging part about trust is it takes time to build and an instant to destroy.  As parents, we see this with our kids.  When they enter the different phases of their lives, we give them additional responsibility accompanied by trust.  That trust was built over years but quickly evaporates when they make a mistake.  Then the process repeats.  The same is true for leaders.  We build trust over time and need to be aware that when we make a mistake and break that trust, we move back to being positional leaders and must rebuild our trust account in order to be allowed or granted permission to lead again.

Shaping our kids into productive adults, leaders of tomorrow, future boat rockers, are the greatest and most challenging leadership opportunities we will face.  Ironically, it is the most natural place to stay a positional leader because our kids depend on us and can’t easily change families.  Our families see us when we’ve had a tough day at work, in the morning before the first cup of coffee, and when we just want to have some “me time”.  Picture for a moment the joy when your children finally grant you permission to lead.  Wow, what an opportunity that comes with enormous responsibility.  The same wow factor accompanied by humility in light of the tremendous responsibility is how we should view every leadership encounter that progresses to being granted permission to lead.  Take it seriously, pursue it with vigor and don’t be content with being granted permission to lead but rather strive to move quickly down the rung to production where the picture you’ve painted and the words you’ve spoken come together in tangible, measurable results.