By Scott Carroll, General Manager, Costa Mesa Sanitary District
Ask almost any leader and they will say that trust and cooperation are essential ingredients for an organization to be successful. That makes sense because when employees do not trust their leader, or each other for that matter, they are forced to work alone to protect and advance their own interest. Without trust and cooperation, stress levels increase and the ability to form strong working relationships suffers to the point where self-interest becomes the primary focus. As a result, employees within the organization do not innovate, share information, communicate effectively or accept accountability, which makes the organization weak.
The challenge for leaders is that they cannot simply instruct their employees to trust them, nor can leaders instruct employees to cooperate. It doesn’t work that way. So, how do you build trust and cooperation within your organization? In 2014, Simon Sinek, who is best known for his 2009 TED Talk presentation on how great leaders inspire action by starting with “why”, presented a TED talk that addressed how employees develop such deep devotion to their leaders and to each other. The question posed was, “why do some employees give their blood, sweat and tears to their leaders, colleagues and to the organization?”
Simon found that the organization’s environment instills devotion among people. According to Simon, “If you get the environment right, every single one of us has the capacity to do remarkable things.” He believes a deep sense of trust and cooperation are feelings. So where do the feelings come from? Quite simply it’s the condition inside the organization that sets the tone for trust and cooperation. “When people feel safe and protected by the leadership in the organization the natural reaction is to trust and cooperate,” said Simon. Simon calls it the “Circle of Safety.” He goes on to say the following in his New York Times and Wall Street Journal best seller, “Leaders Eat Last:”
- “The goal of leadership is to set a culture free of danger from each other. And the way to do that is by giving people a sense of belonging. By offering them a strong culture based on a clear set of human values and beliefs. By giving them the power to make decisions. By offering trust and empathy. By creating a Circle of Safety.”
- “It is easy to know when we are in the Circle of Safety because we feel it. We feel valued by our colleagues and we feel cared for by our supervisors.”
- “We become absolutely confident that the leaders in the organization and all those with whom we work are there for us and will do what they can to help us succeed.”
Simon Sinek’s message on the Circle of Safety could not have come at a better time for me and the Costa Mesa Sanitary District (CMSD). A recent employee satisfaction survey was disseminated agency wide and the results of the survey were a clear indication that I did not have a full understanding of the climate in my organization. Some employees expressed concern about losing their jobs, and admitted that they were afraid to make a mistake in fear of being reprimanded. Some employees refused to ask for help from management because they fear of being chastised for not knowing what to do. All of these feelings led to a decrease in staff morale, which in turn affected staff’s ability to trust and communicate if issues arose. That is not the culture I wanted established at CMSD, nor is it the legacy I want to leave behind. As Simon said in his 2014 TED Talk, “leadership matters because it’s the leader that sets the tone for the condition inside the organization.”
So, I began setting the tone in my organization by describing the following guiding principles for getting the environment right:
- Fear, intimidation, disrespectful, and micro-managing will not be tolerated.
- No disciplinary procedures for making mistakes. Instead, mistakes will be followed up by coaching and/or mentoring and to learn from our mistakes to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
- Integrity and empathy will be an essential part of CMSD’s culture.
- Encourage life-long learning and ensure employees have the necessary tools to be successful.
- Praise employees for work well done and coach employees when performance improvement is needed.
Every week I meet with my leadership team to ensure the Circle of Safety is implemented from top to bottom in the organization. We share our values, openly discuss matters of concern, and strategies on how to be empathetic, and how to give and receive feedback. We discuss the importance of integrity, how to create a sense of belonging throughout the organization, and how to develop meaningful and successful working relationships with the generationally diverse team members. Since reinforcing the “Circle of Safety” in our organization, I am seeing the culture at CMSD greatly improve. Employees are relaxed and engaging with one another, they’re openly asking questions without fear of judgment or being reprimanded, and are more willing to cooperate and assist their colleagues. More importantly, they’re looking out for each other. For instance, several employees donated some of their sick leave hours to another employee because he exhausted all his sick leave. While these are great signs that the Circle of Safety is getting better at CMSD, the work is not over. I envision that it will become the responsibility of every employee within CMSD, whether in a formal position of leadership, or not, to act like leaders, work to uphold the values and keep the Circle of Safety strong forever.
I encourage my fellow general managers and leaders in the public sector to check the environment condition in your organization and then read Simon Sinek’s book “Leaders Eat Last,” or at least watch his TED Talk presentation on Youtube, “Why Good Leaders Make You Feel Safe” (it’s less than fifteen minutes long). I hope you find the video inspirational.
Email Scott Carroll at scarroll@cmsdca.gov to discuss the Circle of Safety, or share your thoughts on how leaders can foster trust and cooperation.
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