Mary Shipley, Director of Supply Chain Management at Renown Health, understands trust is critical to leading well. She uses the combined power of assessments and rolling up her sleeves, and getting in the thick of things to understand her team’s personalities and identify their pain points. By doing this, Mary is able to create a trusting environment where people feel comfortable sharing their ideas, enabling them to achieve more as an organization.

Mary discussed how to individualize your leadership style to develop trust. Learn, below, about what tools, including data-driven approaches, you can use to motivate your people and uncover the power of meaningful connections in the workplace.

“To lead a person well requires trust. And I don’t think you can get to a point where an individual trusts you unless they really know that you can speak the same language that they understand from their perspective.”

Truth You Can Act On

1. Shadow Team Members

I’m a big fan of shadowing what is happening in your departments and with individuals. You need to be able to understand what their hindrances are. What are all their different processes? And instead of trying to dive in there and take it over, make notes of those situations. Then you can be the person who guides them and have them examine the pattern of their day. That kind of collaboration with an individual is important because they’re the ones who are defining what would be the best practice, so they should be the ones who are leading you to the next steps of what you can do to help them.

2. Leverage Discernment

I don’t necessarily think that you can get to a point where an individual trusts you unless they really know that you can speak the same language. It’s one thing to be a leader, come in and observe and then be like, “Okay, I know this person does contracts, this person does frontline logistics,” it’s another to understand their day-to-day entrapments. When you understand all those pieces, you can be prepared when they come up with reasons why they can’t complete a task. And you can go further into delegation and ask, “Why is it an important task? Should it be yours? Should it be someone else’s?” Understanding each individual thing builds trust with the individual.

3. Spending Time with People is Key

Building trust requires leaders to spend time with team members to find out what they do. And I mean a lot of time because it will take a good amount of time before they can give you all the pieces you need to see the big picture. When you first meet a person as a leader, they will be very high-level. They’re going to be very closed. They’re just going to give you information. It’s only after time, with you learning what they do and putting in some time doing what they do, where they’re going to think, “Oh, she’s for real here.”

4. Customize Your Communication

Every individual is different, and each responds differently to check-ins. There are some individuals that don’t need to be micromanaged. In fact, it really turns them off. So by understanding what they do every day, you start to learn what the best way of communication with them is. I have individuals on my team that I know will execute what I give them. And asking if it’s ready yet only causes anxiety in their world and causes deficiency in the execution. Then there are individuals who are learning and don’t know everything they should know or need reassurance to move forward. In those situations, you might have a regular set meeting, and you set specific tasks of what they can complete to see their growth levels.

Book Recommendation:

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

The Mountain is You by Brianna Wiest

Additional Resources:

• Connect with Renown Health on LinkedIn

Listen to the Full Episode: 194: We’re All Important, Prioritize Everyone You Lead with Mary Shipley