Coach Mike Krzyzewski was the American basketball coach for Duke University from 1980 to 2022. His time as a coach led to many victories and awards. These include:
- 5 national titles
- 13 Final Fours
- 15 ACC tournament championships
- 13 ACC regular season titles
- 1,202 victories
His record says a lot about what he accomplished and did with the young men he coached over 40 years. In fact, he currently holds the distinction of being the all-time winningest coach in DI men’s basketball history.
Wow!
Photo by Anastasiya Badun on Unsplash
To be honest, I’m not a huge basketball fan. I don’t watch it on TV unless I’m at a restaurant and a game is playing on their TV sets. It’s not something I enjoy.
However, learning about Coach K (how people refer to Mike Krzyzewski) has been eye-opening. His class Values-Driven Leadership on MasterClass is one I’d recommend leaders to watch and learn from.
Coach K’s Two Ways To Build Trust
During one of the sessions, Coach K talked about succeeding. He said to succeed, you must be respected. To be respected, you must be trusted.
He then said there are two ways to build trust.
Talking builds trust:
Talking may not be the first thing you think of when building trust but it’s an essential aspect of trust building. People listen to you. They hear what you say. Then they watch.
What are they watching for? They’re watching to see whether or not you’re a person of your word. Do you do what you say you’re going to do? Are your words just fluff? Or is there action behind your words?
When you talk the walk, you build trust. Ensure you’re saying what you’ll do and then go do it.
When you talk right, you build trust.
Listening also builds trust:
The second way to build trust is to listen. Many leaders struggle with this form of building trust, myself included.
I want to listen to people. I want to hear what they say and mean and want. But listening is hard.
You have to take off the fix-things hat. You have to truly hear what people are saying to you.
Sometimes, they want you to hear their problems. They don’t want you to problem-solve, give solutions, or make things happen. They want you to be there for them.
Sometimes, they want you to jump in and solve their problems. They want you to give your solutions, ideas, and resolutions.
Learning and knowing the difference is key. But listening is the door lock. As you listen, you can turn the handle and unlatch the lock.
What Do You Need To Work On?
There you have it. Coach K’s two secrets to building trust. They’re not that difficult to understand. If you want to be trusted, you have to talk (walk it out) and listen.
As you go about your day today, think about that. Talk. Listen.
Which of these do you need to work on today? How can you work on these traits that will build trust? Here’s my two cents:
To build trust through talking, think about the words you’re speaking. Can you follow through? Are they the truth? How can you back up the words you’re speaking?
To build trust through listening, think about whether or not you’re truly listening. Many times, we listen to respond. We hear, but we don’t understand.
Work on your talk and your listening. It’s the pathway to trust.
