Trust remains the critical factor in employee engagement, job satisfaction, and organizational success. If employees lack trust in their colleagues and leaders, the workplace loses out in having an open and engaging culture that encourages creative thinking, honest discussions, and positivity. It starts with management transparency which lays the groundwork for collaborative relationships, innovation, and quality improvement.
Here are four ways to encourage trust-building throughout an organization:
Open Communication
Promoting communication between team members creates familiarity and comfort amongst them. Similarly, honest communication between a supervisor and his staff followed by supportive conversations encourages staff to come forward when mistakes are made or during stressful events.
Adding to transparency and open communication is sharing information promptly through multiple mediums. Staff should first hear of company news inside the organization Nothing breeds uncertainty and distrust like a lack of information and a failure to inform.
Finally, leaders must model the behaviours they are looking for in their staff. Performance problems, such as excessive lateness or lack of productivity, need to be dealt with directly and in a timely fashion. Through fair and consistent treatment, staff know what to expected.
Sense of Ownership
One way to actively engage employees is by empowering them to own their jobs. Encouraging employees to share ideas, voice their opinions or help solve a problem increases a sense of personal responsibility and ownership. The more staff are asked to give input into decisions that affect them, the more they feel valued and trusted.
Organizational Values
Well-run companies establish values and share them in ways that are meaningful to the staff. Making decisions based on these values, giving opportunities for teams to discuss the values and their relevance to their jobs promotes a shared understanding of what is important and why. If employees don’t know or understand the values of the organization, they aren’t able to follow them.
Community vs. Hierarchy
The organizational hierarchy is flattening out. There are less and fewer layers of authority for many reasons including cost and layers complicate decision-making, communication and efficiently getting the job done. Today staff expect to work alongside their colleagues toward a shared goal. The culture is collegial where all roles are important, all opinions matter and leaders admit mistakes. The role of a supervisor is to ensure both staff and organizational needs are met.
You can build a culture of trust in your workplace and within your team. Trust is give-and-take; the guaranteed way to earn the trust of employees is to start by showing them that you trust them.
Would you like more information about fostering trust? Join me for my free webinar May 3 as I share tips on creating a High-Performance Team- What Every Team Leader Needs To Have In Place For Their Dream Team To Emerge.
