Trust is an interesting topic because it ties into everything – all layers of life – and is an ongoing internal practice for many of us, whether we are fully aware of it or not. As a mindful leader, your team being able to trust you is paramount to whether they will work with you or against you from a subconscious level (cooperation and collaboration versus rebellion and resistance), so establishing trust on a professional level can truly make a profound impact on the openness and collaborative efforts of everyone involved. Like so many other mindfulness practices, trust begins with you and how deeply you trust yourself. And what does trusting yourself look like? Read on to learn about three ways in which you can enhance your trust in yourself and build trust with your team at the same time.
When you have trust in yourself, this can only help you because you will be more easily able to commit to things, make decisions, and maybe even inspire your team to go the extra mile for the company. As within, so without, so the trust you put in yourself and your abilities will attract and help manifest the trust you wish to inspire from others. Once again, going within and taking charge of your own inner experience is the best way to change the outer reflection of what life gives you in return, and it’s no different when it comes to trust.
So, what does it take to not only build trust in yourself but also earn your team’s trust consistently? Here are a few ideas and revelations to consider.
1: Be Loving & Honest with Yourself First
Loving yourself unconditionally and showing yourself that love every day is the best way for you to begin inspiring trust not only from your team but also from yourself, from within. This will help you in several ways by ensuring that you continue to build on that trust by keeping your word to yourself and following through on what you say you will do. It begins with building rapport with yourself first and making sure that you keep your word to you and follow through on things you know you need to do for yourself in order to keep moving forward, whatever those things may be for you.
When you begin to make a habit of this practice in the moment, you hone your trust in your own instincts and judgment, as well as vastly improving on your decision-making skills because you won’t feel the need to agonize over every detail as you are able to discern everything you need to make a decision and know exactly where you are in the process along the way. This doesn’t mean you stop thinking completely; it simply means that you begin to utilize your mind as an advisor rather than giving it an imbalanced amount of power because, believe it or not, that will actually do more harm than good as the ego takes over and has your brain functioning from a place of fear.
To begin building unconditional love and trust for yourself, do the things you promise yourself you will do. Make sure that your words, actions, deeds, and thoughts are aligned. Treat others the way you would want to be treated but also make sure you extend yourself the same courtesies. Quiet your thoughts and only tap into your mind when you need to think through something. This can be achieved through a daily practice of meditation; the more you are able to quiet and direct your thoughts, the more effective all of your inner work will be.
2: Your Words & Actions Must Coincide
This is a major component of both trusting yourself and earning the trust of your team: as within, so without. When you do the things you say you will do and follow through on them, you earn the trust of not only yourself (because achievements and successes are a big part of building confidence in your own abilities), but also the trust of everyone who is positively impacted by said accomplishment or follow through. And yes, any project you complete successfully can be considered an accomplishment! Remember to celebrate the little things.
When you are reliable to yourself, you immediately influence and tap into the positive emotions of love you feel for yourself. If your “monkey mind” then tries to invalidate or belittle what you feel good about, you may have some more quieting of the mind to do. However, if you can allow yourself to bask in your warm feelings and hold onto them for just a few seconds, it can help you to speed up the process of building trust in yourself by giving yourself positive reinforcement from within. Encourage yourself the way you would encourage a loved one or your child. Most of us don’t treat ourselves that way due to conditioned behaviors, but once we understand what loving ourselves truly looks like, it becomes much easier to put it into practice.
As far as your team goes, not only does your leadership set an example for them on an external level, but they will also see how much you trust in yourself and the confidence and decisiveness it creates. This will help to inspire anyone around you who wishes to grow to work on their own trust levels and begin to evolve into the best versions of themselves. This is a big part of what mindful leadership is all about: positively influencing those around us by doing the inner work that allows us to be our best selves, and in the process, setting a bright and wonderful example of how abundant and wonderful life can be… and gradually healing the perspective and the pain of the collective at the same time.
3: Vulnerability is Strength
It takes courage and strength to be vulnerable about your life, experiences, or the lessons you have learned, yet this is one of the most genuine (albeit uncomfortable at times) ways to connect with your team on a deeper level. If there is an experience, anecdote, or truth you can share with your team, not only does this open you up to get to know them a bit better and allow them to see you as human and therefore more approachable, but it also helps you not to isolate yourself in your leadership role by trying to maintain a surface appearance of having it all together 100% of the time.
We tend to connect on a level of emotions with other people, especially because so many of us have been conditioned to believe that emotions somehow make us weak or don’t serve a purpose. However, it is being recognized more and more just how much our emotions have an effect on our lives on numerous different levels, and many chronic and stressful emotional states have been associated with heart issues and other dis-eases of the physical body. That implies that it is all the more crucial for us to be sincere in our interactions and with sharing how we feel without approaching it from a fearful, controlling, angry, or perfectionistic point of view. These emotions are all based in fear, not love, and will continue to create fear-based consequences over time.
Expressing your emotions, whatever they may be, in a constructive and healthy way can greatly improve your ability to effortlessly deal with anything and everything that might come up in your leadership adventures. Practicing non-judgment and a release of the need to control anyone can greatly benefit your efforts to build trust and handle challenges effectively and without creating more challenges in the process. While it is true that you can’t make everyone happy all the time, it’s also true that in most cases there is a win-win solution and it’s just a matter of discovering it.
Thank you so much for joining us here on the Mindful Leader Blog! We hope that you’ve found this article useful and invite you to join us again next week for another article about trust.
For more information about the Mindfulness Movement or the International Mindfulness Federation, please visit:
http://executivecoachinguniversity.com/mindfulness-movement
