What can you learn from convicted con artists that...if you apply the advise...will prompt your employees to want to do their very best for you?

It's simple. Gain their trust.

A while back I read an article headed: "Decide to be a better boss..."

Some of the tips: Tha ability to put your thoughts on paper. The ability to express yourself to a group. The ability to orginate ideas. The ability to persuade others. The ability to stay on track. All important. But those are all skills. There's something more important. Not a skill...but a character trait. It's trustworthiness. As a workplace leader, it means doing those things with employees that cause them to trust you.

Here's a startling, eye-opening finding. It's from a study done by Adele Lynn, founder of Lynn Learning Labs, Belle Vernon, PA. This is it: 54% of the nearly 1,000 people she interviewed would be willing to work for less money if the high trust factors she identified were present in the workplace.

Lynn, who is a labor and management consultant, some years ago launched a formal interview project. It started after she kept hearing the same issues coming up about what was holding people back from working together. She interviewed nearly 1,000 people (from line workers, to clerical workers, to top management), asking them: Tell me about the boss you'd be willing to do anything for. Tell me about the person you'd want to do your best for.

"Unfortunately," Lynn says, "what I found when I talked to people was that often what people defined for me was what killed their spirit rather than what enhanced their work experience." The people she interviewed often talked about the "practices in the workplace that contribute to lower creativity and lower productivity." She catalogued these and calls them the Spirit Killers and the Soul Suckers.Through all the interviews she found four common factors that effective leaders possess, that contribute to high trust. They are:

1. Giving people a sense of importance, "both the task they are performing and the people themselves."

2. "Something I call touch," Lynn says, hastily adding, "I don't mean physical touch." Touching for trust means "the boss is able to sincerely connect with the persons and care about them and treat them as human equals."

3. Sincere, genuine gratitude. "It's larger than saying, 'Thank you.' It's appreciating the struggles and the sacrifices and the skills and the talents your workers have," says Lynn.

4. Fair and equal contributions in the workplace. "It's the first one that starts raising its ugly head when we start talking to labor and management," explains Lynn. "There needs to be a sense in any relationship that both parties are contributing."

These factors explain why workers are willing to do so much more for some bosses. Says Lynn: "When people work for bosses who believe in them, they want to live up to that vision. Most people want to do a very good job...but especially for the boss they think believes in them."

Now, back to the con artists. Lynn did her study, interviewing nearly 1,000 people. She found that employees want bosses they can trust. She then wondered how she could verify the trust factors she has identified. "I decided to look at con artists and their victims," she explains.

"Every single victim I talked to told me the exact same things that were present in the early stages of the con," Lynn begins. "In other words, the con artist made them feel important, gave them a sense of importance about who they were...all the factors were identical to what the employees had told me.">

Then Lynn talked with convicted con artists and asked them how they did a con. "It was unbelievable," says Lynn. "The first thing you have to do is gain trust. The way you gain trust...and they went on to describe the way to gain trust in the workplace."

Then Lynn adds, with emphsis: "Obviously, the profound difference is the trusted leader is genuine about it."

What's the payoff for the leader who is worthy of trust? "We've measured different ways in different tests, and we've shown at least a 25% to 40% increase in productivity and creativity when High Trust leaders are leading a group of employees," Lynn answers.

"The trust payoff to the boss," Lynn adds, "is in knowing you've touched and inspired a person to be their very best."

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