Leadership Lessons from the DugOut

I’ve written a few times about trust—finding a trusted voice, trusting the process, and trusting data—but I’ve never focused on how to build trust. So, here goes.

When coaching a team, whether it’s young or experienced players, building trust is the key to everyone’s success. The easiest way to do that is through consistency. That means consistency in your actions, your words, and how you treat others.

If one of your “role players” doesn’t run out a ground ball and you yell at them—or even bench them—but one of your best players does the same thing and you react differently, that erodes trust. Believe me, your entire team sees you treating those players differently. And they take note.

It’s not just about disciplining a player. It can also be about running a consistent practice. My players know I am seldom late. If practice starts at 6:00 p.m., I expect them to begin warming up at 6:00—not at 6:05 or 6:10. This builds a foundation: I do what I say I will do.

The same concept holds true in leadership development. When you lead a team, the best way to build trust is to be consistent.

It’s important, however, to distinguish between treating employees the same and treating team members fairly. We have to recognize that each employee’s circumstances are different.

For example, let’s say an employee is late two days in a row. You may have a conversation and discipline that employee. A few months later, a different employee is late twice. You may feel the need to discipline the second employee as well.

In both cases, it’s vital to understand what caused the behavior. The first employee overslept. The second has a sick child at home and needed to wait for a babysitter. The behavior—being late twice—is the same, but the circumstances may call for a different response.

You are still being consistent. You are consistently trying to understand the situation, hold people accountable, and treat them fairly.

You build trust with your team—and even with customers—by being consistent. Treat them all fairly, but not necessarily the same.