Prisons are a little more complicated form of punishment than most people realize.
Prisons use physical walls to separate inmates from each other and society. Prisoners are not just socially isolated, they’re separated from people they trust.
Prisons are mental punishment.
Keeping a person in isolation isn’t just about keeping the community safe, or inflicting loneliness. Prisons punish you by putting you in a place where you don’t trust anyone around you, and you can’t see the people you do trust.
Think about that..
It’s important to understand that the ultimate punishment in most modern societies is to remove trust from your life.
If removing trust is so bad for us, building trust must be really important, right?
Just as prisons use physical walls to isolate us from those we can trust, leaders who don’t build trust are building invisible walls between them and their team, and between their people.
Invisible walls.
Every leader has experienced them. Including me.
You have something you want the team to do, it’s simple and well explained but it doesn’t happen. Or it doesn’t happen fast enough. The team is dragging it’s heels or actively opposing it. Or fighting amongst themselves.
Often the problem isn’t lack of understanding but lack of trust. They don’t see what you see, or what each other sees. They see different sets of negative outcomes.
They would see your idea if they trusted you or trusted each other & maybe you’d see theirs if you trusted them. The distrust between you creates invisible walls.
You’re actually in an invisible prison.
Like real prison, it hurts.
Like a real prison, it’s not productive either.
So maybe “building trust” isn’t the best term. If distrust builds walls, trust is about demolishing invisible walls.
Or simply being aware of the walls.
Low trust leaders aren’t usually malevolent, they’re not deliberately trying to punish their teams. They’re often just blind.
They’ve built invisible walls between them and their teams, or between their people, or allowed the team to build them.
They’re in an invisible prison.
High trust teams don’t perform better because they’re nice. They perform better because they coordinate better, because they break down invisible walls between people.
When people react differently to the same information it’s likely they see different things. When your team reacts differently to you it’s likely they see differently too.
There may be a wall stopping them seeing your point of view, or each other’s, or you seeing theirs,.
“..leaders who don’t build trust build invisible walls between them and their team, and between their people…”
Have you ever experienced invisible walls?
Have you been surprised by the reaction (or non-reaction) of your team to a good idea?
If you meet resistance or differences of opinion, do you charge on regardless, or stop to find out why?
Does your team trust you?
Do you trust them?
Do they trust each other?
If you don’t trust them, do you really see what they see? Does not seeing the same thing matter?
What are you doing to build trust in your team? Both ways – remember a wall is still a barrier no matter who builds it.
Do you open your eyes to invisible walls?
Are you in an invisible prison?
.
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“I might be wrong, but at least I’ve thought about it…”