Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of performance through strong human relations, team building, and GOLA giving. This is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul fella Aledo.
Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast. It's episode four to seventy eight. Today we're talking about one of the most understood elements of leadership. Trust. Most people think trust is something that builds slowly over months or even years, but neuroscience shows us something very different. Trust doesn't build over long stretches of time. It's accumulated in microseconds. Think about that, microseconds faster than a blank,
faster than your brain can consciously process. And it's happening all the time in the workplace, in meetings and common conversations, even in text messages. Trust spikes or drops instantly based on tone, pauses, facial expressions, and even the emoji you choose. So let me break this down for you. Imagine you're talking with an employee and they tell you about a mistake they made. The words that come out of your mouth matter, but just as much the way you pause
before answering matters. If your pause is too long, they might read it as judgment or disappointment. If your tone is sharp, even if your words are supportive, their trust and you may dip. That dip might only be small, but neuroscience tells us the brain remembers those dips and adds them up. Now flip it around. You lean in, you nod, You show with your face and body language that you're listening. You take a beat, then calmly respond. In that moment, trust spikes in the brain records that too.
Here's the leadership takeaway. Every micro moment is a trust transaction. You're either making a deposit or a withdrawal. So let's go even smaller. Think about written communication. A short K in response to a text can feel cold and dismissive. A thumbs up emoji might be efficient, but it can also feel abrupt. Yet a simple got it thank you with a smile emoji feels more human. One builds trust, the other chips away at it. So here's the leadership challenge.
Stop thinking about trust is this big mountain you climb, Start thinking about its grains of sand added or removed with every interaction. That smile you give in the hallway, the tone you use on a quick call, the speed of your reply, the effort you put into choosing words with care. These are all the microseconds that matter. The mistake leaders make is assuming trust is built only during the big moments and your reviews, promotions, crisis situations. But
science tells us those aren't the real drivers. Trust is built or lost in the everyday microseconds where people decide without even realizing it, whether you're safe, whether you're reliable, and whether you're worth following. So here's an action move for you tomorrow. Pick one area where you know you can fine tune the microseconds. Maybe it's slowing down your speech so your pause doesn't sound impatient. Maybe it's replying
to emails with warmth instead of one word answers. Maybe it's checking your facial expressions in the mirror before walking into a tough meeting. So if you take this seriously, you'll notice the change. Your people will lean in more, they'll share more openly, they'll trust you faster, and in leadership, that's the ultimate competitive advantage. Remember, trust isn't a slow build. It's an accumulation of micro moments that happen faster than
you think. And as the leader, you're responsible for stacking the deck in your favor. This has been the seven minute Leadership podcast, and I thank you for listening.
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