Leaders who are trustworthy are leaders who consistently display honesty and integrity. Meaning, that they will make promises and keep them. And when they cannot fulfil their promises they provide an honest and timely explanation. They surround themselves with people of influence, read books, and listen to motivational seminars. Leaders who lack integrity are selfish, they harm their people, they change their opinion to please the public opinion and to be liked. To build or enhance your trustworthiness, consistently practice the following recommendations:

• Lead by example: Leading by example is the best strategy to build trust with others, with your team, and to build a culture of trust. Show them that you trust them and they will reciprocate and build a trust culture.
• Communicate honestly and openly: By setting an example, stimulate your team, colleagues, peers, and stakeholders to talk with each other in an honest and meaningful way. Encourage them to ask questions, discuss the team expectations, and listen actively.
• Organize team building: To encourage the participants to open up and start talking to each other in an open an honest way. Walk the talk whenever you have important or relevant information to share, do it openly and immediately. The more you share with your team and the more you prove that you have no hidden agenda, the more comfortable they will feel trusting you and each other.
• Socialize with your team: Lunch with them, organize a meet and greet, ask about their families,about their hobbies. Show genuine interest in your people and what is important for them.
• Prevent groups inside your team: This kind of group undermines trust in all the team. Have an open conversation with your team about these groups to prevent them.
• Openly talk about trust: If you feel that your team is having trust issues, the best way to address it is to run an anonymous survey, and, afterwards, schedule open meet-ups to talk about the issues.