The Three Layers of Trust That Make A Bold Leader, Zana Goic Petricevic

Leadership

Trust is a choice.

I was once convinced that others to a large extent defined my capacity to trust. However, when my leadership matured, I learned that I choose trust just as I may choose safe leadership. It is a matter of personal decision-making.

We may be inclined to think of trust as something we primarily place in others but in fact, there are two other places in which we choose to put and nurture our trust: in ourselves, in others and finally in whatever we know is bigger than us, regardless of how much it is beyond our rational understanding.

Your leadership effectiveness and ability to be a bold leader are heavily affected by each of these three layers of trust: integrity, intimacy and allowing.

Integrity

It is my firm belief that if such a complex matter as leadership ever needs to be reduced to one thing only, that would be our ability to act with integrity.

Integrity starts with trusting ourselves first. It is our trust in ourselves, which will inspire others to trust in us, and true trust is only truly given to us by others when we genuinely trust in ourselves.

This is how our self-trust paves the way for our trustworthiness.

Trusting ourselves allows other people to trust in us too, and bringing authenticity and values to our work is contagious. Because it matters to you it will matter to the other people around you.  If we give ourselves permission to bring our entire self, unapologetically, and take responsibility for our impact and our values, we will be more able to stand up for what we believe in and look ourselves in the mirror.

Intimacy

Intimacy is about showing yourself truthfully and being trusted for it. It is also linked with our capacity to fully trust the other.

In order to build trust in ourselves, we also need to build trust in others and gain their trust in return. Building a culture of Bold Leadership depends heavily on flexing our trust muscles and empowering others to be their best, reflective, learning selves as well, and opening a conversation is a crucial aspect of that intimacy.

If we surround ourselves with trusted people who can call each other forth to our individual and collective brilliance, we can all grow through our relationships, and success becomes absolutely tied to other people, our interactions and collaborations.

If we operate from a space of trust and belief in others we can build a safety net for all, allowing for mistakes and growing together, with an open framework for reflection, awareness and critical dialogue.

Without intimacy, leadership and our relationships become transactional rather than relational; all head and no heart, and are unlikely to yield the strongest results.

Allowing

We can’t know everything, be everywhere or do everything on our own.

Bold leadership means trusting that other people’s greatness is part of the equation and having the ability to let go of some of the control in order to work together. This means essentially working from a place of trust, as opposed to fear.

When you are actively aware of the trust in yourself and the others, you become more aware of a bigger picture, of what is happening out there.

We are all agents in a wider context. How are we a part of the world around us?

What is our contribution? How are we shaping culture?

Part of the fabric of trust-building is having faith in the wider unknown and those things that are outside of our control.

Building on trust in all its forms and acknowledging that we co-create the world means being actively part of a whole, which allows for accountability to the entire organisation, more empowerment and more shared purpose for our communities.

If we make the active choice to trust we can become better and bolder leaders for the future.

Zana Goic Petricevic is an internationally certified leadership coach and consultant. She is the founder of Bold Leadership Culture, and the author of Bold Reinvented: Next level leading with Courage, Consciousness and Conviction.