I am an optimist.  I believe in people.  I love being in a leadership position where I can have the opportunity to push people to develop themselves and achieve things they never thought possible.  Many years ago, a career counselor told me that I should be prepared for the “fact” that my “Pollyanna” approach to working with people wouldn’t always be successful.

I’m glad I ignored her.

Sometimes we talk about people seeing life as a glass half-empty or half-full…I’m the half-full type!  We approach the people who are part of our contact center teams with that half-empty/half-full attitude.  There are some managers who make every decision assuming that the staff was out to do the worst to their company.  They have punitive policies and communicate an incredible degree of mis-trust to their people.  The trust glass is definitely half-empty.  And, you know what?  They get a half-empty performance out of their people.

I prefer the half-full approach.  That’s not to say that I’ve never had a staff member who wasn’t a poor performer – I have.  The difference is that the “trust-glass-half-full-manager” deals directly with the person and the issue.  The glass-half-full person doesn’t implement a policy that punishes everyone because of one person’s bad decisions.  Sometimes, it’s harder this way…but it’s worth it.  Demonstrating trust for your people will generate trust from them in return.  When you make a mistake (and you will!), trusting people will forgive you and continue to follow you as a leader.  You trust them…they trust you.  That creates an upward spiral of success.

Question for the day: Would your staff say your trust “glass” is half-empty or half-full?  What one thing could you do today to show your staff that you trust them?