One Thing You Can Do To Build Trust As a Leader In Healthcare
A Personal Anecdote
A job interview question caught me off guard.
First, you have to understand that I'm highly prepared for interviews, having interviewed for many positions and having interviewed many folks. So when the CEO of the company asked me about myself, I started my professional spiel, including my values and career trajectory.
"No, no," he said. "Tell me about YOU."
This, I was not immediately prepared for. I had no stock answer. He had follow up questions for me - probing about my life and my interests. His facial expression showed genuine curiosity.
I don't have a canned answer to my personal story, so I stammered through the things most important to me -- my family, running, music, LSU football...
What this CEO knew is that the start of a good and trusting relationship -- and everything is about relationships -- starts with knowing the other person. And that means asking good questions with a sincere desire to know the answer.
Building Trust
Every leadership pundit on LinkedIn has a list of trust-building behaviors. Have you seen this type of content lately on LinkedIn, promising a list of things leaders do to build trust?
These are all certainly accurate and helpful tips. But can you remember 10 to 12 actions to do every day?
*One* Thing to Remember
I’m a fan of simplicity. One key action done well and consistently can drive 80 percent of your performance.
I've noticed that one key behavior can result in a huge increase in your ability to build trust, show empathy, improve communication, and improve your decision making.
That one thing? Asking Questions.
For more on the importance of one key action, check out
Essentialism, by Greg McKeown
The One Thing, by Gary Keller
The 80/20 Principle, by Richard Koch
The Benefits of Questions
Asking questions has tremendous benefits for you as a leader.
People love to talk about themselves and their thoughts. They feel more trust when you ask questions. Research also shows that you appear smarter when you ask more questions.
Asking more questions can drive so many great results for you as a professional, leader, or in your personal life:
Get clarity on expectations
Build relationships with someone
Connect with your family
Verify understanding of instructions
Increase empathy
Getting input from quiet team members
Showing humility
Learning from mistakes
Gives you time to process
Helps you improve your decisions
Builds team support for the decisions you make
Many of my life's missteps could have been avoided by simply asking more questions -- and more of the right questions.
Examples of Questions To Try
Here are some examples of questions you could try today, to help you maximize the benefits of this technique:
"How are you today?"
"What do you like to do for fun?"
"What is most important in this role/project?"
"Is it okay if I repeat back what you said to make sure I heard you correctly?"
"Can you give me an example?"
"Is it frustrating because ____ happened?"
"What was your favorite part of today?"
"What's one thing you want to remember from this training?"
Conclusion
Rarely do we ask enough questions, which is odd because they are so incredibly powerful.
Try asking more questions today, and let me know how it goes!