Build trust and rapport with team members
Successful leadership is built through earning real, solid trust. Without it, nothing scales. You can have the best technology, the best strategy, the most brilliant people, and still fail if your team doesn’t believe in you.
So, how do you get trust? Simple: be consistent, be reliable, and listen. People don’t follow titles. They follow those who understand them. Start with an open-door policy—and actually mean it. People need to feel safe bringing you problems before they escalate. Keep your commitments. If you say you’ll fix something, do it. Every time you follow through, you reinforce credibility.
Then, there’s psychological safety—a term that sounds academic but is fundamental to innovation. If people are afraid to make mistakes, they’ll never take the risks needed to push the company forward. The best teams iterate fast because they know failures are part of learning. Google found that its highest-performing teams weren’t necessarily the smartest but the ones where people felt safe speaking up.
Gain senior leadership trust
If you’re running a team, you also need trust from the top. Leadership requires you to consistently demonstrate that you can solve problems and drive real outcomes.
First, be proactive. Don’t wait for leadership to spot inefficiencies. Come to them with well-thought-out solutions. When you do, don’t just present problems. Instead, show impact, propose fixes, and anticipate counterarguments.
Second, communicate transparently. Leaders don’t have time for fluff. Keep updates precise and focused on what matters: impact, risks, and next steps. If you’re making progress, show it with numbers. If something isn’t working, own it and pivot.
Finally, align your team’s work with big-picture business objectives. Senior leaders care about how your work drives efficiency, revenue, or strategic advantage. If they don’t see that connection, they’ll see you as an operational manager and not a strategic leader.
Actively coach and mentor
Good leaders are developed and crafted over time. And that happens through learning from those who’ve already been where you’re headed.
The best managers actively seek coaching and mentoring because leadership isn’t a solo sport. You can read all the books in the world, but nothing replaces first hand advice from someone who has navigated similar challenges. Get perspectives from senior leaders, peer managers, and even external mentors. The best insights often come from industries outside your own.
What do you gain? Pattern recognition. Leadership is about making the best decisions with incomplete data. The more perspectives you hear, the better you get at seeing what works, what doesn’t, and why.
And let’s be real—management is tricky. You need to hold people accountable without micromanaging. You need to be transparent without overwhelming. Coaches help you refine this balance. They show you how to use data-driven leadership, setting clear metrics instead of relying on gut feeling.
“Great leaders don’t only focus on building great teams. They focus on building great leaders. That starts with making yourself one.”
Instill a culture of experimentation
Innovation doesn’t happen in environments where failure is punished. The companies that win are the ones that experiment aggressively and learn fast.
That means shifting the mindset. Failure is a core part of succeeding. You iterate, test, and refine. If a team fears making mistakes, they’ll stick to safe, incremental improvements—and that’s how companies get disrupted.
So, how do you make experimentation part of the culture? Structured risk-taking. Define the problem. Test small. Measure results. Learn fast. Repeat. Instead of making permanent decisions, frame them as experiments: “Let’s try this for a quarter and reassess.” It reduces resistance and opens the door to better solutions.
Be open to feedback
Most leaders say they want feedback. Few actually listen to it. That’s a mistake.
Feedback is a growth accelerant. The best leaders both tolerate criticism and actively seek it out. You should want to know your blind spots before they turn into real problems.
Start with your team. If they’re hesitant to give direct feedback, change the approach. Instead of “What can I do better?” ask, “If you were in my position, what would you do differently?” That slight shift makes it easier for people to be honest.
Then, act on it. A team member in this article suggested feature dependency meetings with downstream teams—a simple but powerful change. Implementing it uncovered hidden risks and improved execution. Listening isn’t enough. You have to take consistent action to reinforce trust.
“Your team, your peers, and your mentors all have insights that can make you better. The only question is whether you’re willing to hear them.”
Leadership is a continuous learning process
Nobody has all the answers. Good leadership is pioneered through learning fast and adapting. The best leaders treat management as an evolving skill set, not a fixed trait. They read, seek mentorship, and iterate—just like they expect their teams to. The landscape changes. Challenges evolve. The playbook that worked yesterday might be obsolete tomorrow.
Resilience and adaptability are survival traits. Markets shift. Technology advances. Unexpected disruptions happen. If you’re not continuously learning, you risk falling behind.
You have to be willing to work to find the answers when you don’t have them. That’s what makes innovation possible. And that’s what separates managers from true leaders.
Key executive takeaways
- Build trust: Establish consistent, open communication and follow-through to foster psychological safety and strengthen team engagement.
- Align with leadership: Proactively address challenges and maintain transparent updates to ensure team objectives support strategic business goals.
- Embrace continuous learning: Leverage coaching, mentoring, and active feedback to refine leadership skills and drive sustained performance.
- Cultivate innovation: Encourage structured experimentation and calculated risk-taking to promote creativity and accelerate problem-solving.
