Trust is fostered
A business story...
Susan walked out of her downtown apartment building and made the short walk to the Ladybird Lake trail for her morning run. This was her usual routine and helped to clear and focus her mind.
Susan is the CEO of a late stage startup in the so-called “med-tech” space. She is a retired medical doctor. After 20 years in private practice she had some real ideas about the needs in the space and founded NewMedTech in 2017. Eight years later, she is very proud of the company she has built and of the work they are doing with people who are a joy to be around.
As she began to stretch out against a nearby park bench, her mind wandered to the past month. “A month of change to put it mildly," she thinks. “A month of lessons. A great month, but it certainly did not start that way”.
The familiar ding of Slack goes off and Susan swipes screens to read:
“Hey Susan, you have a minute for a huddle?”. It's from Teri, her COO and executive leader of people. This is usually not a good sign. She quickly replies. “Sure thing, let’s hop on now”.
The two join the huddle and jump right in.
Teri starts. “Jim just resigned.” she says flatly.
Teri is her right hand. Pragmatic, direct and every bit the perfect match for Susan. Susan knows that this relationship is a cornerstone of why the company is successful today. She trusts Teri implicitly and fully.
“Oh my, is he ok? Is it his family?” Susan asks.
“He is ok, his family is good. But they have decided that they need to take steps now and are going to accelerate their move. He said he was very sorry to drop this in now, with the acquisition starting next month, but he must do what is right for his family. He needs to focus on this move and his decision, while hard, was final”.
“Ok, well I have to understand, but this timing is going to be tough. Jim was central to this transition and even though the initial rounds of paperwork are done, we still have two months to go to close this deal. We are going to need to move very fast”, says Susan.
“We agree. This is why I interrupted your time block; this can’t be delayed. Inside council is just not something we can be without right now”, Teri replies.
“I think this might be time for me to shift and take your advice on a fractional hire.” Susan continues. I am not solid on this, but I am mentioning it to let you know I am not going to be my usual stubborn self this time. Let me set up an extra session with my coach and see what kind of annoying questions he is going to ask me”, she continued while laughing. She loves her coach and knows those hard questions at just the right time are what makes her, her best self.
“That is a good idea”, Teri replies. “I will ping our primary investor group and see what they have done in similar situations. If you do come fully around to the fractional ideas, I have several networks to tap there.”
The two hop off the Slack Huddle.
Susan goes right back to Slack. Her Executive Coach is on retainer and set cadence of meetings, but also makes time for her as needed on an ad-hoc basis and does not “nickel and dime” her with charges when she occasionally needs that chat.
“Hello Coach Rob” she types. “Any chance you have 30 minutes today; I have an issue and I need your counsel”.
Less than 15 minutes later she hears the ding and reads Rob’sreply.
“Hello Susan, I hope you are well. Can you hop on a video call at noon? Here is the link.”
She types in her reply; “Thank you so much Rob, see you shortly”
The meeting starts and the AI note-taker joins with the usual “this call is being recorded”.
“Hello Susan, let’s get into it. I know you well enough to know that if you need a special session, it is important for you,” says Rob.
Rob is a person of high-integrity and candor. He can “read the room” well and knows when it is and just as importantly when it is not time for chit-chat. Today is the day to get to it. Susan trusts rob and appreciates his sometimes hard-hitting questions and holding her ruthlessly accountable.
“Well Rob, I lost a key employee today and right in the middle of our acquisition. We will need to move very quickly to replace him. Logically I know that this is the time for me to finally listen to Teri and bring in a fractional hire or this role.”
She pauses to see if Rob will jump in, but as usual he can see she has more to say and he remains engaged and silent.
Susan continues. “We need expertise more than anything. This isn't a budget thing, although I know that is a benefit of Fractional, but we need speed and I do not have time to wait to “steal” a lawyer from another company or hope to get lucky and find a good one between roles. So, and this is where I need you, why am I still afraid of hiring a fractional?”
Rob now replies.
“I feel that your logic and your trust in Teri might not be in alignment. Is that what you feel?
Susan feels her ears turn red. She is angry.
“No, Rob, that is not it. I trust Teri, there is no question. She has earned this in every way with her actions and words. I think you have missed this one. My logic and my trust…” she let’s that sentence trail off.
“Damn,” She says flatly.
“It’s MY actions that are wrong; I am not acting like I trust HER.”
“Ok, Rob. As usual this is just what I needed. I need to continue to foster the trust in MY actions; this is a two way relationship and of course she is doing what is best for me and the company. Thank you, I will see you in two weeks for our usual session. Susan replies as her ears cool.”
“I am always here for you Susan,” Rob replies. “Be well and have a great rest of your week.”
The two exit the call and Susan sits with her thoughts for a moment.
“This is all about trust and I need to carry that into the interview process as well, she thinks. “Trust has to be earned” is not quite right. Trust needs to be fostered and as Rob helped me understand very early on, as the Authority figure, I have to trust first; always.”
With new clarity Susan grabs some time on Teri’s calendar later in the afternoon.
Here they will work through what Teri has found from their investment partner and they quickly have a short list of potential fractional attorney’s to interview.
As a friendly squirrel hops up on the bench where Susan is stretching, she is brought back to the present. Today is Jim’s last official day on the team and the onboarding of the new attorney is complete. If these first two weeks with her is any indication, she is going to fit in well with the team and this acquisition will go on as planned. Time to get moving she thinks as she heads out onto the trail.
This story is fiction but rooted in things all executives have experienced. All of us have moments of uncertainty where we feel we do not have enough information to make the correct decisions. A good coach can help with that; sometime with one well timed and thoughtful question.
The lesson from this story is that trust is not a thing that a leader “waits for”. Trust must be fostered and as an authority, the first action should be yours.
Is your team at an inflection point, on the edge of a growth curve, dealing with the changes of M&A? Some or all of the above?
I am Will Simpson Executive Coach and part time fiction author. If you are an executive dealing with change; let's have a conversation. It all starts with how we think…