Last week, we shared Part 4 of The Study of Character Leadership.  Here is Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 preceding that post. They were all grounded in an article published by The Ivey Business School on Developing Leadership Character.  At the heart of this work and exploration has been the virtue of trustworthiness and its vital importance for leadership.

Now, there is this piece on optimizing team productivity.  In it, there is reference to the following team productivity “hacks”.

Team Productivity Hacks For Managers

Organize team building activities

• Take a little time outside of work and organize some team building activities.
• By encouraging social interactions between team members, strong collaborative relationships are built and team members are happier.

Create inclusiveness in discussions

• In order to have an effective and productive team, all members need to feel comfortable in sharing their thoughts.
• Taking turns to speak and giving everyone a similar amount of time to share creates more inclusiveness in the workplace.

Facilitate Peer Recognition

• Don’t underestimate the power of peer recognition in the workplace. Team members have a great understanding of great work that deserves recognition around them.
• Leverage a culture of peer recognition where employees are able to frequently recognize one another for their efforts.

We recommend the entire read; though we do squirm the idea of “hacks”.  But, we get it.  Still and even more so, we suggest these and many other suggestions and activities center around the building of authentic trustworthiness that goes beyond words.

At a recent entrepreneurial event, I heard a number of comments and ideas that (let’s just say) went in another direction.  The ideas proffered were in line with “what they don’t know won’t hurt ’em”.  The thing is they will know, in time.  You might gain temporary advantage but you will not sustain productivity nor success.  Any quick fix manipulation will be seen.  Integrity and trustworthiness, whether in pricing or service or leadership, is vital to long term growth and success.  It must be a treasured commodity.

Dwight Eisenhower spoke of the value of integrity.

These words speak to integrity and its power to build trust and be worthy of it.  It is an investment true leadership must make.  Anything else is built on the shifting of sand.  Build a house of trust that will stand.  Build the kind of integrity that earns and keeps trust.  The world does not need another quick change artist.  What it needs are builders, of trust.

That is it for our study, for now.  May you “Let deeds, not words, be your adorning”.