Oftentimes our leadership failures are not life-threatening, but when they are, as in the case of Toyota’s response to the multiple reports of accidents from sticking accelerators, it only adds fat to the fire.  I have encountered only one life-threatening situation on the job during my life span.

During my internship at a large, prestigious training hospital, I had a patient whose surgery left her worse off than had she never had the surgery. Because the mishap landed her on a respirator for six months flat on her back, the mistake in her family’s eyes was indeed life-threatening.  I overheard them talking one day, saying, “If we don’t soon get an explanation and apology, we’ll sue!” A week later, the family spoke openly about how much they appreciated the sincere apology and honest admission of a misplaced incision. “It was a human mistake,” they conceded.  Still, I imagine there are times when apologies and explanations are given to harsh, unforgiving ears. Humanistic leadership is a two-way street.

Once we hear CEO Toyoda speak before a Congressional hearing, how will we respond? I have a notion that we’ll see a more timely response to future accident reports, assuming Toyoda offers a transparent account of where he and his team failed the public and how the enactment of new policies will preclude a similar future public outrage.  This may be exactly the crisis Toyoda himself needs to start him on a path of more enlightened leadership.

William George, Harvard Business professor wrote his take on the crisis Toyota is currently experiencing in a recent blog post this week.  To read the full story, click here.  George details Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda’s actions of hiding and avoiding the true problems have created a leadership crisis for his company.  It’s too soon to tell how long a recovery make take or how successful that recovery will be for Toyota.  To help Akio Toyoda, George offers his advice, based on his recent book, 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis.

How do you feel Akio Toyoda handled himself and the media during this challenging time?  What did he do that was good; what should he have done differently?

Hypnosis isn’t about getting people to do crazy things, it’s about getting people over their own stumbling blocks so they can achieve their personal best.  Teacher and hypnosis coach, David Grinstead says,”I’m an educator, and I teach (people) a skill that they can use the rest of their life.”

Grinstead’s hypnosis helps people with sales skills (including selling yourself), career goals, motivation, confidence, public speaking, weight control, and smoking, among many others.  See the full list of services on David’s website.

Grinstead joined The Leadership Trust® as an adjunct faculty member in September 2009.  He sees clients in Burlington and Durham.  Of his joining the TLT team, Doc Holly says, “We’re excited to offer David’s hypnosis services as part of our expanding programs.  We aim to help people in not only leadership, but in their daily lives as well.  Hypnosis fits naturally into our expansion plans.”

With a name like The Leadership Trust, we get a glimpse through our website analytics how many people are researching trust and leadership.  We even endorse a phenomenon we coined “the boomerang effect” that supports the notion that in giving trust you get it.  Some people may refer to this as the Law of Attraction, but no matter what you want to call it, BusinessWeek author, Dov Seidman, speaks of how to get what you want by giving it.  We all want loyal, trustworthy customers and employees, but are we willing to meet them halfway?  In this article, Seidman speaks of how a doughnut shop owner decided to let his customers make their own change from coins he left on the counter.  Read not only what happened profit-wise and otherwise from this seemingly small business maneuver, but also the more dramatic and riskier ones.  Even our most jaded skeptic may reconsider “it is in giving that we receive.”

Trust in leadership is a huge topic.  Our solid track record is evidence that we can help you with that.  In our Personalized Leadership Development Program, we offer unique and highly compelling processes that create, as a by-product, that much coveted trust with your employees and customers.  Our graduates speak to this in their testimonials.  In Siedman’s company, they tried meeting their employees half way during a restructuring process.  They found that by not requiring the formal approavl on the expense reports but instead used random report checks, there was less friction between managers and team members and more time to do their work.  Read about their striking restructuring results from their recently surveyed employees.

Don’t you want your employees to feel the same way?  Aren’t you glad there is a proven process to make it so?  Visit us and take that first step toward creating a culture of trust.

Source: BusinessWeek online

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