所有领导者必备的才能：与下属建立信任

    MPW内部网络是一个邀请最有影响力的商界女性及时解答职业与领导力问题的在线社区。本周，我们的问题是：你会给首次担任领导岗位的人什么建议？以下是最佳职场研究所CEO齐纳•戈尔曼的回答。

    担任领导职务将是一次令人兴奋的经历。最初，你脑子里会涌现出各种想法和可能性。你希望做成许多事情，实现许多成就。当然，作为新领导，你或许还会继承一些遗留问题，但你读过足够多的商务类图书，所以你很清楚，所有这些问题其实都是机遇，可以让你向全世界展示自己的优点，当然也有可能是缺点。那么，你到底有哪些优点和缺点呢？

    在回答一连串优点和缺点之前，我希望你能向外思考而不是向内思考。作为一名领导者，你要领导其他人，理想情况下，你希望其他人追随你，希望他们达到新的高度。务必要将下属视为你的领导力的基石。他们将帮助你实现所有目标。因此，你必须与他们每一个人建立积极的信任关系。

    著名作家、领导力演说家约翰•麦克斯韦尔在联合国的开场演讲中曾经说过，每一位追随者都会问领导者三个问题：

    1. 你关心我吗？

    2. 你能帮助我吗？

    3. 我能信任你吗？

    麦克斯韦尔表示，在任何一种文化、社会和国家中，人们都会一直关注这三个问题。

    在制定第一个目标或写下你的愿景之前，（记住我的话，你应该经常做这两件事），你需要约见你的直接下属。比如，为每个人拿出两个小时，只是用来聊天。或许你可以带他们去吃午饭。了解他们。找出他们的优势；他们有什么目标和期望；他们需要你做些什么来帮助他们走向成功。你在精心创造、培养和发展与下属真实且清晰的关系时，他们反过来也会逐渐信任你，更重要的是，他们会努力成为你可以信任的人。

    信任是影响领导者成败的最重要的因素。你培养的信任越多，你就能更好地领导团队，取得更多成就，进而得到更好的发展。团队成员为你工作和与你一起工作，有着巨大的区别。前者只是在做一份工作；后者却承担着伟大的使命。

    最佳职场研究所通过多年的细致研究发现，好的工作场所取决于员工与领导者、工作和彼此之间的日常关系。在所有这些关系当中，最关键的变量便是信任。随着时间的推移，员工体验到你的领导力，你与他们之间的信任便会有机地发展。这是一场马拉松比赛而不是短跑，所以，你应该在内心决定，你愿意投入时间，因为你的付出会得到回报。

    简而言之，能否成为一位称职的领导者，与你所在的行业，你拥有或缺乏的资源，你的经验水平，或者你拥有的学位都没有关系。成功的关键在于你能否与下属建立信任关系。这是一项需要天天去做的长期工程，不能懈怠。毕竟，现在正是你向世界全面展示自己的时候。（财富中文网）

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    审校：任文科

    MPW Insider is one of several online communities where the biggest names in business answer timely career and leadership questions. This week we ask: What advice would you give someone going into a leadership position for the first time? The following answer is by China Gorman, CEO of Great Place to Work Institute.

    Taking on a leadership role can be quite a heady experience. At first, your mind brims with ideas and possibilities. There’s so much you want to achieve and so much to accomplish. Sure, you may be inheriting some issues along with the new title, but you’ve read enough business books to know that all issues are really opportunities to show the world what you’re made of . So what are you made of?

    Now, before you answer with a list of strengths and weaknesses, I would challenge you to think outward, not inward. As a leader, you are leading people, and ideally you want those people to follow you, hopefully to new heights. Think of your direct reports as the building blocks of your leadership. They are the ones who are going to help you accomplish everything you want to do. Thus, you need to cultivate positive and trusting relationships with each and every one of them.

    As legendary author and leadership speaker John Maxwell stated in his opening speech to the United Nations, there are three questions every follower asks of a leader:

    1. Do you care about me?

    2. Can you help me?

    3. Can I trust you?

    Maxwell purports that in every culture, society and nation, people ask those three questions of their leaders, and they do so continually.

    Before you set your first goal or write down your vision, (and mark my word, you should engage in both of those activities on a regular basis) you need to set an appointment with your direct reports. Start by scheduling a couple of hours with each person, just to talk. Perhaps you can take them to lunch. Get to know them. Find out what their strengths are; what their goals and desires are; and what they need from you to be successful. As you carefully create, nurture and develop real and distinct relationships with each of your direct reports, they will in turn learn to trust you, and more importantly, they’ll strive to be someone you can trust.

    Trust, more than anything else impacts your success as a leader. The more trust you cultivate, the better you lead, the more you achieve, and the higher you climb. There’s a big difference between having someone on your team who works for you and someone who works with you. The former is just doing a job; the latter is on a mission to do something great.

    Years of intensive research at the Great Place to Work Institute has led us to the finding that a great workplace is created in the day-to-day relationships that employees experience with their leaders, their work and with each other. And in all of those relationships, the most critical variable is, you guessed it, trust. Trust between you and your employees will develop organically over time as they experience your leadership. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, so settle it in your mind that you are willing to invest the time because the rewards will be well worth it.

    In short, it doesn’t matter what industry you are in; what resources you do or don’t have; your level of experience; or number of degrees. What is essential to your success is your ability to build trusting relationships with the people under your authority. Work on it every day and never stop. After all, now is your time to show the world what you’re made of.