by Jack Warren, host of the Top Coach podcast
Confidentiality is a big hurdle on the road to trust. And trust is one of the most important pillars in building a successful organization. Maintaining confidentiality is an absolute must if you are hoping to build a solid foundation for your organization.
Trust and loyalty go hand in hand – and it’s a two-way street. Nearly every day you have the opportunity to have a conversation that depends on your maintaining confidentiality. It may be something shared with a player, a staff member, or someone from the school administration. If you’re in the high school ranks, quite often those conversations are with parents.
Maintaining confidentiality is difficult. Keeping secrets is hard. There are many reasons we feel compelled to share – and some are very legitimate. However, your first instinct ought to be to keep it to yourself.
There are some people in positions of leadership who feel compelled to share everything. If you’ve been around the block enough times, you’ve worked with these people. Sometimes they feel they’re being helpful. Most often, however, it’s more about the surge of adrenaline they get when telling a tale. And then there are the leaders who try to get out in front of a situation by “recruiting” – that is, framing a story in such a way as to make sure they don’t look bad, no matter how it might make the other person look.
Cutting to the chase, your default position ought to be to say nothing or as little as possible to no one or as few people as possible. Only when thoroughly evaluating the situation should you look to trusted counselors for assistance. If you’re looking to build your organization or to take it to the next level, it won’t happen unless you’re building with trust.
Photo by Small Group Network on Unsplash
Jack is available to speak to your team or organization or at your next function. He also provides individual and organizational coaching and consulting. You can get more information on these services at Jack’s professional services site, JackWWarren.com.
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