Page 127 - The New Gold Standard

It’s a Matter of Trust
Carlton in loss prevention. “I worked for a hotel general man-
ager who had a 100 percent open-door policy. I went to him and
complained that our security system was from the Stone Age.
The images were not sharp, and I could not rely on them. I let
him have it wholeheartedly and passionately. In a lot of work-
places that would have been the end of the discussion, if not the
end of me. However, my general manager evaluated the situa-
tion and spent $144,000 on a new security system because of
what I said. I thought to myself, ‘You have got to be kidding
me.’ For him to take me so seriously and listen, I decided I bet-
ter stay here as my career. I couldn’t believe it. He worked with
me. Now that’s leadership and integrity.”
Developing trust doesn’t have to require significant capital
investment as in Maurice’s case. Often trust emerges from small
gestures that remove barriers interfering with an employee’s work
performance. When leaders listen and execute on the needs of
their staff, they model behaviors that fuel trust among cowork-
ers. Paul A. Boguski, guest services supervisor, shares, “I work
with a great group of people, and I think the way my boss sup-
ports us sets the tone for how we treat one another. Take Adam,
for example—he is the MacGyver of the engineering depart-
ment. On one occasion a brass ball disappeared from the top
of my bell cart, so I called Adam. Given our culture, I knew he
would come through for me, and sure enough, he took my bell
cart for a little while and brought it back having used a brass
doorknob to replace the ball.”
When leaders earn the trust placed in them, organizations
see trusting behavior and team support migrate throughout their
facilities. However, when leaders can’t be trusted, coworkers of-
ten work against each other in self-protective ways.

C Honesty and Authenticity D

Even with recognition, the provision of tools, or the removal of
barriers, trust erodes when communication lacks honesty at the

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