Trust is essential for collaboration, breaking down silo's, driving engagement, innovating and surviving continuous change. Trust does not just happen, it requires continuous and intentional effort. When trust is present, employees are able to fully engage and do their best work. They work together, watch out for each other, and are able to communicate effectively. When trust is absent, employees compete against each other, work in a vacuum and withhold information. When looking at creating an environment of trust from the leaders perspective, everything you do either builds or breaks trust. Brené Brown uses BRAVING as an acronym for her seven elements of trust. Consider her seven elements of trust as you rate yourself in this capability

As a leader, your behavior has a huge influence on others. Your employees are looking to you to understand what acceptable behavior looks like. They look for it in your actions, your decisions, your behavior, and in your consistency. This is a huge responsibility that comes along with being a leader. You don't have the option to turn it on and off. You are always on.  As a leader, NEVER UNDERESTIMATE the impact you have on others.

• When you take actions or make decisions, do you consider how they align with company values?
• When making decisions do you consider your motive?
• Do you involve others to get input based on their experience and expertise?
• Do you spend time helping your employees see the big picture, understand the vision, and show them how their work connects?
• Do you verbally acknowledge the strengths you see in each of your employees?
• Do you believe in the abilities of your employees?

Creating a culture of open communication takes intentional effort. It will result in a higher level of employee engagement and a sense that what they do matters. It allows employees to share opinions freely (even opposing ones), and perform at their best.

When you lead by empowering your employees, you ask for their input, trust their ability and resist the urge to share your own opinion. When a leader empowers their employees, they tap into coaching skills and by doing this you will find that your employees become more capable of critical thinking, are more likely to embrace a solution mindset and are able to solve their own problems, creating independence.

• Do you delegate with the specific purpose of developing your employees?
• Do you set your employees up for success with clear expectations / boundaries?
• Do you provide your employees with resources / remove barriers and otherwise, give them autonomy?
• Do you provide feedback on what is going well and what needs to be improved in a way that drives performance?
• Do you take time to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of your employees?
• Do you listen deeply to your employees?
• Do you resist the urge to tell your employees what / how to do things?
• Do you ask for input from your employees?

Holding yourself and others accountable is all about keeping commitments. As a leader, your team is looking to you to create an environment of accountability and consistency. Successful leaders set expectations, follow up with feedback and make sure employees are making progress towards the commitments they make. And, when commitments are not met they hold themselves and others to the consequences.

• Do you model appropriate behavior and hold yourself to the same standards as your employees?
• Do you consistently follow up with employees to make sure expectations have been met?
• Do you hold your employees accountable for both their behaviors and their results?
• Do you consistently hold all your employees to the same level of standards?
• Do you document expectations and track progress verbally and in writing?
• Do you take appropriate action (including discharge) when someone consistently fails?
• Do you set clear and actionable expectations?

Having the ability to develop others is seen as a strategic tool to drive engagement, productivity and loyalty in your employees. Developing others is much more than sending employees to training classes and putting money aside in your budget. It takes intention, planning and creativity. The 70-20-10 Model is a commonly used formula where 70% of the knowledge should come from on the job experience, 20% should come from interactions with others and 10% should come from formal educational events.

• Do you assign your employees with challenging projects / stretch assignments?
• Do you involve your team in important meetings with outside stakeholders?
• Do you allow your employees to attend training sessions / conferences?
• Do you provide your employees with exposure to senior leadership?
• Do you give our employees opportunities to train their peers?
• Do you provide opportunities to lead projects?
• Do you create opportunities for your employees to shadow other employees?
• Do you give your employees the opportunity to conduct high profile presentations?

To be a strategic leader, you must shift from continuously focusing on problems and fighting fires; to proactively creating solutions. Your level of consciousness impacts your ability to see the big picture and be strategic. The higher level of consciousness and the lower level of judgement the more strategic you will become. Strategic leaders are always considering the future. They look for opportunity to drive long term results rather than focus on short-term wins. They connect all work to achieving the vision.

• Do you spend time removing silo's and building collaboration?
• Do you challenge the thoughts and assumptions of your employees? 
• Do you challenge the status quo?
• Do you focus on creating plans that drive sustainable success?
• Do you have a 5 year plan?
• Do you anticipate future needs / challenges?
• Are you able to make tough decisions with little or incomplete information?
• Are you able to find common ground and get buy-in across stakeholders?
• Do you promote a culture of inquiry?

As a leader, your integrity is judged every day. Your employees are judging you through their particular "lens of integrity" and they judge every action you take. Integrity is directly related to trust, if you do not act with integrity your employees will not trust you. If your employees do not trust you, they will not follow you, regardless of your title.

• Do you keep your word, honor your commitments, promises, and agreements?
• Do you tell the truth? Are you honest with everyone and avoid "little" lies?
• Do you know and act in accordance with your deepest values?
• Do you take responsibility for your mistakes, own up immediately and right the situation?
• Are you humble, avoid looking for approval and when you can, let people save face?
• Do you consider how you would feel if your most recent actions were the latest news headline?

Having high emotional intelligence means that you are skilled at spotting your emotions and are able to use them to your benefit. Studies show that only 36% of people evaluated were able to accurately identify their emotions as they happen. This means that two-thirds of people let their emotions control them, this is according to the book, Emotional Intelligence 2.0. Your level of emotional intelligence determines how you manage your behavior, how you navigate socially, and how you make decisions.

• How self-aware are you? Are you able to accurately identify your emotions in a given moment?
• Are you able to use your awareness of your emotions to stay positive and flexible?
• Are you able to accurately pick up the emotions of other people and understand what is going on with them?
• Are you able to use your awareness of your own emotions and the emotions of others to improve interactions?

When people interact with you they need two things, what they came for (item, answer, information, etc.) and to feel good about the interaction (welcome, heard, understood, etc.). Both of these are important to building effective relationships. It doesn't matter WHO you interact with, you should treat everyone the same. . .as a person. Not as their occupation, job, task or result. To do this you must take an interest in them, ask questions, listen, and learn about who they are and what they do outside of work. You should make doing business with you easy and pleasant.

• Do you smile often when interacting with others?
• Do you know the names of all the people you interact with?
• Do you take your time, slow down your pace when interacting with others?
• Do you demonstrate you are listening?
• Are you empathetic and do you validate the feelings of others?
• Do you know something personal about each of your employees and refer to it?
• Are you genuine and grateful?
• Do you practice transparency?
• Do you put people first?