Managing upwards by building trust

Posted by Sarah Hobbs

As we discussed last time, your relationship with your manager can be critical for your career. Getting it right and then maintaining it over time is challenging, but reaps rewards. The key issue is to build the right level of trust with the person you are working with and to recognise that trust isn’t always easily given. For a manager to trust you it means that they have to take a risk – so try to make it easy for them.

Here are six quick ways you can build trust between you and your manager:

1. Trust them. Trust is much more easily given where people sense that you already trust them. Perhaps the best way to do this is by you starting and taking the risk first.
2. Watch their back. Both politically and in their work, is there anything you’re aware of that might hurt them and affect their agenda? If you spot anything on the horizon that presents a problem for them, take the time to tell them if you possibly can.
3. See things from their perspective. Sometimes you will think about how they are approaching a situation or a piece of work and will scratch your head, puzzled. Try to take a big picture view – why do they do the things that they’re doing in the way that they’re doing them? It might not make much sense to you, but is there a reason for them doing it? If you can see that and make sure things are done in the way they see best, trust ensues.
4. Don’t keep work secrets from them. It can be really difficult for somebody to trust you if they know that you are holding secrets from them. Sometimes you’ll have to, but think very carefully about the effect on your relationship if (or when) they find out. Is it worth holding the secret?
5. Go the extra mile in volunteering. I often found myself saying to managers that I worked with “shall I do that?” or “would it be helpful if I did a first pass over that?” Sometimes even an hour spent on a task to start it off can be helpful depending on the way your manager works.
6. Listen, note and do. If they see that you are listening very carefully to what they need to happen, they will have greater trust in you. As a personal example, I find it frustrating when I ask someone to do something and they don’t write it down – it gives me very little confidence that it will be done. For a manager, if they see you listening, writing it down and then they see it delivered; there is little that builds greater trust. Doing what you say you will do is probably the most important thing.
7. Tell them you’ve done it. When you have done a piece of work or delivered against an action you have done, tell them. Clearly you don’t want to bother them with every triviality, but particularly earlier in a relationship, taking time to update them is time well spent. Somewhere in the back of their mind there is an open loop of something that they are waiting for and it is playing on their attention. You will firstly be bringing reassurance to them and secondly they will feel positive about the fact that you don’t only bring problems or unfinished work to them!

TAKE AWAY
Trust is a gift that is carefully earned. How are you going to earn the trust of your managers?