Many years ago, a teacher shared a powerful concept with the class that has real-world meaning even today.
The story goes like this: In a high-school cafeteria, you will almost always see teachers or assistants responsible for “monitoring” student activity (behavior, actions, etc.). Students are well aware of this, and at a subconscious level they assume they “need” this level of supervision because (apparently) they are not mature enough to “monitor” themselves. In turn, behavioral problems are almost certain to occur in this environment.
If you remove the monitors from the cafeteria (or playground, etc.), the students’ maturity level automatically rises and they start to “police” themselves and those around them. The number of behavior-related problems is less.
I believe this story has applicability to the workplace.
How much trust you place in reports and co-workers can make a world of difference in the working relationship and the end deliverable / result. If you start off by placing little trust in the relationship and subsequently give them little responsibility (or freedom to self-direct), they in turn will rely more heavily upon your direction and their overall performance will be limited.
In contrast, by placing complete trust in the individual and his/her abilities, the working relationship will grow considerably in a very short period of time. The individual will have greater confidence from the experience and this confidence will build upon itself, resulting in a self-fulfilling prophecy of “success” for all involved.
Of course, there are exceptions to both the classroom and the workplace. Some students are simply not mature enough to “police” themselves, and some workers do not have the knowledge or experience to operate independently.
However, as a general guideline I believe it’s beneficial to keep this general principle in mind not only in the workplace, but in personal relationships as well.