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Rethinking Formal Authority
One thing that often happens when we get formal authority is, understandably, and we think that, “Gee, you know, now I’m the boss, I have the authority and I’m glad to have it, not because I’m a control freak or a power freak, but because maybe I can finally get some things done that I think need to be done in this organization and make it a better place and make us all productive.” But people often find out when they move into these roles – and people who are very experienced still suffer from this – they’re shocked to discover that, you know what? Yes, this is a position of authority, but frankly, a more helpful way to think about what I’m doing is to understand that I’m really in a position of being very dependent upon others to get my job done. And what I need to figure out is, what are the sources of power that I can use to influence people to get that job done? Now, indeed, my formal authority is one source that I can rely on, but the problem with formal authority, is frankly, it’s a form of coercion. And in today’s environment, one of the reasons why management is getting so much harder, in today’s environment, you need people to be committed and use their judgment and take risk. They will not do that if fundamentally the source of power you’ve been using is coercion, which is, of course, what formal authority is. So frankly, you don’t use it a whole lot. The most appropriate time to use formal authority is when really you’re in a kind of hurry, you got to get it done. And if people trust you, if you’ve already built a basis of trust, when you use it that way, people will get that there must be a reason why, in fact, she’s just moving, and she’s not asking us what we think, because this has just got to be done because of some kind of urgency.
Now, on the other end, if you think about it as your role as instead of formal authority, it’s more about inter-dependency, then you again begin to think about how do I build influential relationships with people, and what you need to think about is how do you build trust?
Key Dimensions for Building Trust
There are two dimensions of trust you need to pay attention to. The first dimension of trust is really your character. This is what people rely on to figure out whether or not you want to do the right thing, whether you’re well intended. The second sort of aspect of trust that people pay attention to is your competence. Do you know what the right thing to do is? So we all know people who we think, if you will, are well-intended, but frankly, we don’t think they’re so competent. They don’t know what’s up. On the other hand, we know people who we think know what the right thing to do is, but they’re not well intended. We tend to think of those people as sort of political animals.
But what you’re trying to do is give signals in everything that you do, and people are watching you when you’re in a position of formal authority. They’re watching your non-verbals, they’re really paying attention to your words. Particularly during times of change or times of anxiety. To figure out, do you care about them, do you care about the organization or are you only in it for yourself? Do you have the competence to know what it takes to get us through this next new phase that we’re in? It may be that you don’t know and so the fact that they’re sending you some signals that they may not trust you so much, may frankly be legitimate, because you know good and well, you don’t know either, but you’re going to learn as quickly as you can and you need to send them some signals that you’re going to learn as quickly as you can to have the competence so that they can indeed trust that you not only well intended, but you actually do know what the right things to do are.
The other thing I’d say about trust, particularly when we work in a global world, is that sometimes when we’re working with people who are different than us and we find ourselves doing that nowadays and who we are working with virtually. Frankly we don’t see them, we don’t know them in the same way that you know them in the same way that you know them if you’re working face to face. You again, you have to be very careful about, very aware and mindful of the signals you’re sending. The way you write emails, do you capitalize those letters? Do you ever adapt to them? Do you always hold the meetings at a time when it’s 9:00 in the morning for you, but frankly, it’s a very inconvenient time for them? All of these little signals, actually are what people have to rely on to figure out whether you’re trustworthy.
Repairing Weak or Broken Bonds
If you lose trust on the dimension of character, are you well intended? When that happens, it’s very, very hard to repair those relationships, so you’ve got to be very careful about sending signals, the right signals, about the fact that you are well intended, that you’re looking out for what’s best for the business. And what you want to say to yourself is, “I may have acted in some ways that some people might read as evidence that I’m not caring so much about that.” And instead of taking it personally, you need to sort of step back when you get some non-verbals from them or other signals and either share with them, if you will, more explicitly why you did something, disclose your reasons, so they can understand that in fact it was a part of being well intended. And it’s perfectly reasonable that they may have jumped to an assumption that, in fact, maybe didn’t look so good on the surface, but you do often have to make some tough decisions that might confuse people about whether or not you’re well intended.
In terms of the competence piece, again, this is a dangerous one in the sense that if you don’t know, if you don’t have the competence about something, you need to share that with people. People aren’t stupid. You might sort of say, “By the way, these are some things that I know and I know I’ve been put in this position because I know this piece of the puzzle of the job, but I know that I have a lot to learn here.” So I think you need to just assume that people need evidence and sometimes you need to disclose more about why you’re there, what you’re doing, don’t be insecure, and understand that since you have power over them, they want to make sure they know that they’re in good hands.