Page 306 - How America's Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times

Self-Engagement C293

tention to the drivers you ranked as most important to your engage-
ment, and then place a check next to any suggestions that you believe
you could benefit from doing.

Trust and Conf idence in Senior Leaders

Ways to build more trust and confidence in the
organization’s leaders

You may feel that trust in senior leaders is built mainly from the top
down, but there may be more ways than you think to deal with the
situation constructively. If you believe that your distrust or lack of
confidence in senior leaders is causing you to be less engaged than you
could be, consider the following checklist of actions you could take
(independent of what the senior leaders may do):
___ Check out your perceptions of senior leaders with trusted peers, as you
may be lacking important information or misperceiving their behavior.
___ Speak up in meetings with your manager and other leaders, and asser-
tively, but wisely, express your convictions and desires.
___ When you present your ideas, be prepared with a specific plan for im-
provement, and volunteer to be a part of implementing the plan.
___ Don’t be too quick to dismiss the efforts of new leaders. Give them time
to communicate and begin to execute their vision before judging it.
___ Focus as much as possible on building trust and confidence with your
immediate manager.
___ When a leader asks for your input, ideas, or support, be prepared to
respond positively and take the initiative.
___ Demonstrate an “ownership mentality.” Learn how the company makes
money, seek to uncover unmet needs you can help address, and find out
what you can do to make it more profitable.
___ Look for ways to take the initiative to meet the customer’s needs, or
ways to improve your own skills, so that leaders will trust you to handle
new challenges.
___ If you have observed unethical behavior, report it to a trusted higher-up.