Establishing Trust With Your Employees Works Both Ways
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Maintaining open communication: Keep employees informed of what is going on within your organization. Do you have new clients that are coming on board? Are you considering adding to your staff? Clearly, some information needs to remain confidential until it is appropriate to be shared with the members of your organization. Use discretion, but do not assume that your employees do not want to know or need to know of events that impact the organization. Regular update meetings are good, but so are impromptu sessions when you have something new and exciting to share.
Leaders that have strong communication skills:
- openly share ideas
- keep people informed and up-to-date on business issues, and
- demonstrate good listening skills by paying attention to what their people are saying, both verbally and non-verbally
Your business is as important to your team as it is to you. To create an environment of trust and collaboration, keep your employees updated on events that will impact them now and in the future.
Meeting commitments: How many times have you heard "do not make promises that you cannot keep"? Over-committing and under-delivering can present problems with your customers. This rings true with your employees as well. If you commit to a raise or a promotion, do it. If you tell your people they will be involved in activities and events, involve them.
Trustworthy leaders:
- are candid and truthful with their people
- behave according to the rules, even when it may be inconvenient
- call attention to problems and inconsistencies instead of ignoring them
Establishing trust is a two-way street. It is important for your employees to have trust in their leadership team, but you and your leaders also need to have trust and confidence in your employees. According to Salamon and Robinson, when employees are trusted, productivity and performance increase. You can start by communicating expectations and holding your people accountable to meet their commitments to the organization. Set the bar high! Perfect attendance is good, but engagement and participation in the success of the organization is better. Translate organizational objectives into specific goals and action plans for your people. Giving your people the opportunity to participate in special projects, projects that tap in to their individual talents, is also a good way to engage them in bringing more value to the organization.
By engaging your people, improving communication and living up to commitments, trusting relationships can flourish - to the benefit of your people and your business. The ultimate goal is to trust your employees' decisions and give them the latitude to do so. Trust is contagious and results in a win-win outcome for both your business and your employees.
Trust that binds: The impact of collective felt trust on organizational performance. Salamon, Sabrina Deutsch; Robinson, Sandra L., Journal of Applied Psychology. 2008 May Vol 93(3) 593-601
