If you are a mindful leader, that implies you have people to lead, am I right? Well, if there are people, there must be trust, and to build trust, you can work on a few different aspects of your leadership style, habits, and perspective. Read on to learn how you can begin developing trusting relationships with all of your employees… without getting overwhelmed.
What characteristics inspire trust in you and your abilities? If you’re in a leadership position and even just a little mindful, you will likely have at least some of these character traits naturally, especially if you’ve worked with integrity and genuine passion for a while. Whatever traits you have naturally, pay attention and be honest with yourself about recognizing them. From there, you can cultivate the rest of these character traits as you go through mental conditioning, meditation, and continuous mindfulness practice.
The Key Ingredients to Cultivating Trust
· Consistency. If you want to cultivate trust in you and your abilities as a leader, then lead by example. The little things done consistently each day are what will make all the difference in the long run. Once you begin to see results and your momentum builds, the proof is in the pudding and your team will have more trust in you.
· Commitment. Your unwavering commitment to your business, company, project, or vision even during lean or difficult times is what will inspire trust in you for future projects. No matter what the outcome, the fact that your commitment was unwavering speaks volumes. You made a decision and stuck with it even if it seemed impossible or wasn’t popular at one point or another.
· Clarity. Become very clear about your priorities, your purpose, your mission, and your expectations… make it a point not to be vague or ambiguous. Being straight forward is a great way to avoid wasting time beating around a problem as opposed to solving it.
· Competence. You will find that people trust you more if you know what you’re doing, are always learning and staying up to date, and either know the answers or know where to find them. This is where applied knowledge becomes a very powerful tool.
· Character. Are you the type of leader who does what is right over what is easy? If so, this is a characteristic that will help to inspire trust in your leadership. Life and business very often require doing what needs to be done whether we like it or not, so it’s no wonder that this trait inspires trust.
· Gratitude. A leader who practices gratitude will have an amazing set of personality traits that everyone can appreciate. That’s what makes a mindful leader such a great connector. Grateful leaders don’t gossip, complain, or feel entitled. This mindset can always be achieved through practice.
· Results. Nothing screams, “Follow me!” like achieving the results you set out to, or better. When you are able to produce positive and successful results on a consistent basis, your expertise expands, your team trusts you more and more, and you are able to be more confident and build upon your success no matter where you are on the overall ladder.
· Empathy. Being compassionate toward others is essentially caring about things bigger than yourself or outside of yourself, and taking those things into consideration. This will ensure that you are working toward the best interests of the majority and the business as a whole, applying the golden rule as your default setting.
Now that you’ve read about some of the most important traits of a great leader, it’s time to put these habits into practice. The only thing you have to do to begin changing your life and leadership style for the absolute best it can be is to implement one of these small habits at a time until you practice all of them daily. Think incremental improvement at a relaxed pace so it sticks effortlessly and feels wonderful.
For more information on the Mindfulness Movement and the International Mindfulness Federation, please visit:
http://executivecoachinguniversity.com/mindfulness-movement
