A look at the lack of trust and confidence in the relationship between management and staff.

1. Trust and the Leadership Gap
By Steve Fawthrop
Originally Posted on LinkedIn 6/6/14
Leadership, by a company leader or work group leader/manager, hit my
radar once again with an anonymous post on an advertising industry
site this week. The initial post that started a discussion:
"How do you deal with a DOS/boss who knows absolutely nothing about
the industry, can't open doors and can't even train an intern on basic
digital 101?! Fellow sellers, please talk me off the ledge and let me
know that I'm not alone!"

2. There are already 12 responses in a day including these few as
examples:
"100% exact situation! This is me every damn day."
"This was a discussion the other day. You are NOT alone in that
situation. I have an idiot for a head of sales. Absolutely useless."
While the stated situations might be ramped up a bit in the description
under the guise of anonymity, there are real emotions coming out in
the comments.
High decibel situations aside, I have spotted a number of references to
the “gap” in effective work groups due to leadership style. To note:
•A blog on the strengths and related weaknesses associated with
entrepreneurial leaders. Guess what Mr. Entrepreneur, you are action
driven and have lots of ideas but aren’t always tactful, jump around on
priorities and don’t always pay attention to detail. Those flaws work
against your success and the ability of those around you to perform
their best.
•A blog on the difficulty of older workers working with and reporting to
younger bosses and “inherent” conflicts associated with the
generational dynamic and different outlook between the two.
•A poll that showed that employees would rather work for an
incompetent boss who is nice vs. having a competent boss who is not
nice. The fact is either scenario means you will not be successful.

3. •Another survey, from Gallup research in a book I read a few years ago
called “Well Being: The Five Essential Elements” by Tom Rath, showing
that 45% of men and 30% of women find it unpleasant to interact with
their boss. This was characterized based on interaction with the boss
generating feelings of depression, anger or frustration.
This is pretty sad. Given so many people have been unemployed and
underemployed over the last six years, it does not provide a lot of
comfort that those employed, including the bosses, are not being as
productive and successful as possible in their work.
So what is the problem? Is it a personality problem with the
entrepreneur? Age or generational differences in a shifting workplace
as the Boomers start to exit the workforce and Generation X and the
younger Digital Natives take command? Perhaps you have a boss who
has the technical or process skills but lacks the communication ability or
culture building skills? Are you living with The Peter Principle--the
incompetent leader--as your reality as seems to be the case from the
comments above? Perhaps we are now getting closer to the core
problem and the ability to reference a solution.

4. The issue at the leadership level comes down to trust. Does the leader
inspire trust?
Good question, you may say, but what do we mean by trust?
In the book “Speed of Trust” by Stephen M.R. Covey (the son of the
“Seven Habits” author) he notes that trust has two key components:
•Character
•Competence
Character is depicted by the attitude and approach you take to a
relationship whether it is work related or personal.
Competence is the ability to get things done right in the circumstance
of the relationship.

5. Both are needed to establish a confident trust relationship. Trust
overrides whether a leader is Type A or analytical, whether the boss is a
man or woman, younger or older than the staff. Trust allows for an
environment where the combination of talents and effective work
styles are optimized for performance rather than altered around the
personality of the leader.
And what do I mean by competence being circumstantial? Covey gives
an example in the book that his wife trusts him as a husband but when
she needed surgery she went to a qualified doctor, not him, to have the
procedure done. His wife legitimately did not trust him, compared to
the doctor, related to her medical needs. That was appropriate for the
circumstance.
The same is true at work. People may prefer the easier course of the
agreeable, incompetent boss over the tyrant, but in their heart they do
not want someone who is an amiable dunce either. They want to know
the time and effort they make for their work translates into success.
So as you look at issues at work, ask yourself if trust exists in the
relationships. If falling short then ask how you can put aside the blocks
and work toward a greater trust on the foundations of character and
competence.
##
Other posts on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/today/author/667794

6. Additional Resources
September 2014 update: Managing across the generations from
Harvard Business Review: http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/09/managing-
people-from-5-
generations/?utm_source=Socialflow&utm_medium=Tweet&utm_cam
paign=Socialflow
July 2014 update. A column citing the latest Gallup work engagement
survey, a study on the impact of social communications on
engagement, conducted by Gallup and Altimeter Group and a highlight
by LinkedIn citing 25 leading social companies who build employee
engagement: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/new-
linkedin-study-shows-social-media-win-win-both-employees-and-
workplace?utm_content=buffer1685b&utm_medium=social&utm_sour
ce=linkedin.com&utm_campaign=buffer

7. 11 elements of leadership:
https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130128162711-
15077789-11-simple-concepts-to-become-a-better-leader?trk=mp-
details-rc
Gallup research summary related to "Well Being." How socializing and
friends make a difference at home and in the work environment:
http://businessjournal.gallup.com/content/127043/Friends-Social-
Wellbeing.aspx
The CEO of Gallup addresses workplace satisfaction and what really
matters most:. To note, his headline is a bit deceptive in where the
comments go:
https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140605130808-
14634910-employee-satisfaction-doesn-t-matter?trk=mta-lnk
John Maxwell video on the five levels of leadership:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPwXeg8ThWI&feature=em-
subs_digest-vrecs

8. About Me
Steve Fawthrop
stevefawthrop@outlook.com
714-876-7062, cell
http://www.linkedin.com/in/stevefawthrop
www.google.com/+stevefawthrop
Twitter: @SteveFawthrop
I have been a sales professional in advertising and marketing as a
career. This has included managing my own territories, selling with
others and managing sales teams.

9. Some career highlights:
Seven years in sales management including five years at the Puget
Sound Business Journal in Seattle growing local sales to over $5 million
annually (+70%). In Seattle I worked with an in-market staff with
outside territories and inside sales. In Orange County I worked with
dispersed reps across the country.
Joint selling with local reps in the U.S. in the West, Midwest and Texas. I
also had the unique opportunity to work with independent reps in Asia
while maintaining individual revenue responsibility as part of my eight
years working with USA Today. All of the work in Asia was pioneering to
break new markets with my dominant focus on Japan. At one point my
national territory for USA Today was nearly $7 million annual revenue.
Have opened and grown individual sales territories for regional and
national accounts. This included opening the first office in Los Angeles
for the Network of City Business Journals, the national sales arm of
American City Business Journals.
Over the last six years I shifted more deeply into digital marketing and
most recently worked on a mobile ad technology start up, moment M.
I was born and raised in Seattle and graduated from the University of
Washington with a B.A. in Communications with a concentration in
Advertising.
While a good portion of my professional career has been spent in
California—19 years split between Los Angeles and Orange County—I
returned to Seattle October 2012.

10. I have two children. My son, Nolan, is a 2014 graduate from the W.P.
Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. My daughter,
Hayley, is a junior at Seattle University.
As part of my personal interest and community involvement, I have
been a volunteer and board member of the Friends of the Seattle
Public Library since returning to Seattle. I also do some volunteer
mentoring for my college fraternity, Phi Kappa Psi.
I serve as a community manager for Linked Seattle, one of the largest
geographical focused groups on LinkedIn with over 52,000 members.