FROM TRUST TO INFLUENCE: HOW GREAT LEADERS BUILD TRUST IN LEADERSHIP TO INSPIRE TEAMS

Leadership is all about influence—but true influence is built on a foundation of trust. At Ellis Adams Group, we believe that fostering trust within teams leads to unforgettable guest experiences and long-term success. Discover how great leaders build trust and inspire their teams to achieve remarkable results.

John Maxwell has a leadership truism, and it reads: “Leadership is influence.”

He’s 100% right. Leadership is using your influence to get the team to where you want them to be—whether that is telling stories to inspire and cast a vision of what the future could look like, or building the confidence of a team member. A leader uses their influence to make the team better and to achieve a destination.

But there’s a step before influence, and it’s one leaders can quickly forget. That step is trust.

The team must trust the leader if the leader wants to have any influence over them.

We should pause here and clarify that some leaders don’t care about trust. Their influence comes from inserting fear into team members and ruling with anger. We’ve all been in those organizations, and they’re not a healthy place to serve.

Good leaders build trust. They keep their word. They don’t break promises. People are thanked and coached to correction. Leaders are self-aware when they’re having an off day and will often limit face time so as not to disrupt the flow and culture of the team. If a leader has told the team they’re pursuing a certain goal and then the direction changes, they will gather the team and explain why.

You can’t have healthy influence without a foundation of trust.

So what breaks trust?

• Breaking your promises.

• Never thanking anyone but only barking orders.

• Taking your bad day out on your team.

• Yelling at employees to make yourself feel better.

• Changing goals without ever explaining why.

• Treating people like ID numbers rather than human beings.

Poor leaders expect influence because they give people a paycheck. But employees of today want more than money. They want purpose. They want to know their work is making an impact in someone’s life or making the world a better place.

At Ellis Adams Group, we accomplish that by creating unforgettable experiences for individuals in the hospitality industry. We train and equip clients to design moments that lead to lifelong memories for their customers. Our team knows that what they’re doing matters—because trust in leadership fuels purpose and purpose inspires action.

Evaluate your leadership. Are you building trust? Does that trust result in healthy influence?

Maxwell is right: leadership is influence. But the truth is deeper—you can’t have influence without trust. Start building trust, and your team will chase the dream with an unrivaled passion.

Intersecting life, luxury, and leadership,

CHRIS ADAMS

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