Why is it that some people are given a green light of immediate trust on topics while others struggle to get buy-in on their ideas?  Character Leadership is present or is lacking and becomes apparent when the crew needs to follow the leader.

I’ve come to believe that if someone thinks you have a strong character then they will accept your ideas faster.  Likability plays some part in this however I know like-able people who could not sell an idea or approach to a group.  I believe someone with a high character score will bring experience from their past learning and consideration for all involved to a discussion.

Have you ever had a discussion with someone when they defended an under dog or someone who was not present?  Did this event notch their character deposit up a little?  In contrast have you ever witnessed someone speaking poorly about someone who is absent?  Did this raise or lower their character score.

Some things I’ve picked up lately are:

• stay out of the grey.  If white is right and black is wrong… stay away from the middle ground.
• respect the non-present.  If someone is not present… do you best to hold them in high respect.
• never say anything about someone you do not want to appear in print.

I know in today’s stressful work environments we are pushed to our limits and we sometimes feel the need to explain details so others know why an action happened.  I have often been impressed when someone will say nothing on purpose.

This topic is a struggle for many of us.  Working on it every day.

What I have noticed is that trust is at the heart of leadership.  Bottom line is if your team does not trust you… you will never get to a highly functional team performance.  You will spin with issues that should not be present.

Great leaders have high character and trust deposits.

People with low character will never be effective leaders until they start working on their trust building situations… It takes a long time to change someones perspective of you from a low character to a high character person… but it can change one circumstance at a time.

Ron is a Project Manager and occasional blogger with Chalder Consulting Inc. www.chalder.ca

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/rondsmith

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