Do you trust your current supervisor? Manager? Department Head? General Manger? Company Executives?
I think we can all agree that trust is the foundation of any successful group, business or relationship. It is a core component of Employee Engagement.
I recently read an article by Ernst & Young about trust in the workplace. Less than 50% of professionals trust their employer – that is an amazing statistic if you think about it.
Why is trust, an already agreed component of the foundation of any organization, so hard to find? According to the article there are 5 main reasons:
- Unfair employee compensation
- Unequal opportunities for pay and promotion
- Lack of leadership
- High employee turnover
- Work environment not conducive to collaboration
Issues that revolve around “unfair” and “unequal” can be perception based issues, meaning that my perception of fair and your perception of fair can be different. These are difficult issues. Typically, they are present due to a lack of expectations being set during the employee onboarding process and during ongoing assignments. For instance, if you set pay/workload expectations in the beginning, it is less likely for them to turn into a fairness issue later on. It is also beneficial to continue to set those expectations.
Each of the reasons above could also have multiple issues within…for instance, turnover. What causes turnover? I think you see where I am going with this…it’s a mess. A tangled mess that we have created by forgetting what is important in our lives, both at home and at work.
People and the relationships that we have are important. When we start to focus on the P&L or the sales numbers and we tend to forget that people are the ones who are responsible for those numbers…we kind of lose touch.
If your company is not where you want it to be (most companies) then how are you attempting to grow and achieve your goals? If you have a trust issue within the organization, I don’t care what your goals are or how you plan to achieve them…unless you fix the trust issue…you are spinning your wheels.
Fix your trust issues and then you will have a lot better chance of moving forward towards your goals. You have already read the top 5 reasons for lack of trust…here are a few more that I have encountered in my research:
- Boss says one thing but does another
- Power abuse – My way or the highway
- Disrespectful behavior from a boss to an employee
- Boss arriving late to meetings
- Boss lacking confidentiality with personal matters
- Gossiping of any type by any employees
- Boss who doesn’t know how to coach/lead
- Boss who speaks poorly of customers/guests/clients
- Boss who raises voice in conversation to intimidate
- Boss who bullies or belittles
I’m sure you have experienced some of the above and would agree that these types of behaviors usually make one think…How in the world did they get their position?
If you are attempting to “fix” trust issues, then try these approaches to build trust:
- Walk the Walk and Talk the Talk
- Open Leadership – Learn from All
- Respect Everyone, Always
- Be Prompt – Go Early and Stay Late
- Keep Confidential Matters to Yourself
- Do Not Allow Gossip – Stop it Immediately
- Manage Processes – Coach People
- Positive Speech Only
- Maintain Self-Control Always
- Be Professional, Diplomatic and Courteous Always
These skills will benefit your entire organization and you will start to see a significant change in all areas as you build trust.
Remember that building trust is just like any other project, it takes time. Be patient, and work at it with persistence daily.