Trust and Authenticity

This is a response to Grant McCracken’s post “The Problem of Forced Fun” found at the Harvard Business Review.

I think the word Grant McCracken is searching for is Trust. Leaders need to Trust the people they work with, and everything else falls in to place. If you trust that your teammates will make the best decision, and that it’s their reputation on the line (as well as the org’s), chances are they’ll err towards authenticity.

The lack of trust leads to corporate mandates: the minimum flair, the customer service guidelines, the… failed decisions of an executive body out of touch with their audience.

I think we can get back to trust when we shrink the size of the organization. Large organizational bodies trend toward mandates, SOPs, memos, and bureaucratic bullshit. Smaller organizations have to trust everyone on board, also removing anonymity. Mediocre people thrive on the anonymity of a large organization; the ability to do the bare minimum, follow and blame the rules, and clock out at the end of the day appeals to those of us who don’t want to deal.

As a customer, I’ll trust the employee who rolls her eye at the corporate “bon homie” and makes a decision on my behalf, before the employee who flashes his Cheshire smile.

Who would you trust?