Rebuilding trust

Last week my newsletter explored the impact of mistrust in the workplace and the damage the pandemic has done to leader and employee trust.

Failure to intentionally build and improve trust in the workplace will not only impact your organisations culture but you will actively sabotage your brand and reputation, productivity, motivation, engagement, and talent retention.

The choice is yours. Here are 10 actions you can start to take today.

1. Build the staircase

If trust has been lost, it will not be repaired overnight. It will also not be restored with one massive action. It will be a staircase of small, repeated, consistent, and reinforcing steps. For many managers the thought of letting go of control and providing employees with autonomy and trust is a scary prospect. The word ‘anarchy’ flashes in front of their eyes. When I work with these sorts of managers, I suggest they find a small low-risk task that they can assign to a member of their team and then empower them to undertake the task in the way in which they see best. The manager demonstrates trust by providing direction and then getting out of the way.

By gradually accepting more risk over time, a strong and tempered trust is created. Each small step is a step up the staircase toward a culture that has mutual trust and respect at its core. It is a long slow climb but one that is not an option.

2. Give up control

A definition of trust is the “firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone.”

Leaders believe in the ability of their team members. They know their role is to enable their employees to be the best they can be. The provide the training and education, coaching and mentoring, and support those employees need to grow and develop.

Managers become leaders when they when they do not direct but provide direction. Leaders provide empowerment, autonomy, and trust. They provide clear expectations and then get out of the way. The leader and employee both know that this is not management by abdication. The leader is always there to provide support and guidance and remove obstacles when needed.

Leaders ensure that expectations are understood, and that leader and employee are on the same page. They agree on the expected outcomes, timeframes, deliverables, check-in frequency, progress reporting, budgetary constraints etc. There is mutual trust between leader and employee. The leader trusts the employee to do the right thing and the employee trusts the leader to be there when they are needed.

Trust is reciprocal in nature. When a leader trusts an employee, the trust is returned. The caveat is that the trust is consistent, and the provision of autonomy is not withdrawn at the slightest sense of a crisis. If that occurs, the message sent is, “You trust me when the sea is calm, but you don’t trust me to do the right thing when the sea gets rough.”

3. Leadership development

Most organisations do not invest in building trust. Trust is hard to measure in terms of return on investment and therefore it is not considered a skill that needs to be developed. However, research has been telling us for decades that trust is key to the success of the organisation. Trust drives the behaviours that drive organisational performance. It encourages collaboration, innovation, problem-solving, information sharing, creativity, cooperation, and agility.

Organisations must invest in developing their leader’s ability to create an environment of trust and have the capability and competency to empower employees and provide autonomy.

4. Listening

When leaders really listen to what their employee have to say and demonstrate that they have listened, they establish trust. When employees feel valued and heard, there is trust. Leaders invite conversation and can be fully present. They know when to be quiet and listen attentively. They will avoid distractions and interruptions, so they are fully emerged in the conversation.

Leaders ask questions to invite deeper conversation. They demonstrate that they value the diversity and thought of each member of the team. They are not judgemental, and they build trust by building the relationships.

Listening turns into trust when it is followed with action. Listening without action is vapourware.

5. Embrace the mistakes

When employees are empowered and provided with the autonomy to do their job as they see fit, mistakes will be made. Trust will only be sustained if mistakes and setbacks are embraced and seen as learning opportunities. I like to avoid the word failure whenever I can and talk about setback which are more temporal in nature. I also like to talk about employees not just bouncing back from a setback but bouncing forward having grown due to the experience.

If employees are scared to make mistakes due to the fear of repercussion or reprimand, all trust is broken. Leaders can make employees feel safe by provided parameters within which they can safely operate. A good example of this is the Waterline Principle operated at W.L. Gore and Associates. Founder Bill Gore sanctioned risks above the waterline on the ship as it would not sink the ship. Employees have all the autonomy they like above the waterline. If something goes awry, the hole on the side of the ship can be repaired, everyone learns from the experience, and the ship stays afloat.

If the risk is below the waterline, the employee should seek further sanction as the hole below the waterline could sink the ship. This principle enables leader and employee to manage risk and the leader can lower the waterline for each employee depending on their tenure, expertise, or experience.

6. Empathy

Trust is established when a leader shows that they truly understand the situation, perspective, and experience of their employees. Empathy is easy to say but often hard to practice. We all have our filters, biases, and preconceived ideas. All of those must be removed it we are to be truly empathetic.

Empathy has never been more important than it is now. Every one of us has experienced the past 24 months in different ways. We have all had different concerns, anxieties, and fears. Leaders must be truly empathetic if they are to assist their employees with the right support and guidance.

We often describe empathy as walking a mile in another person’s shoes. I would rather describe it as understanding how the other person feels walking a mile in their own shoes. When leaders truly understand and can show true care and compassion, there is trust. When an employee believes that their leader really understands their situation and is willing to work towards something better, there is trust.

7. Authenticity

We can all sense when someone is not being authentic, and we will not trust them as a result. We don’t believe what they say, and we do not believe what they do is without self-interest. If leaders want to be trusted, they must be authentic. Period.

Leaders must be authentic, vulnerable, and transparent with their employees. These are the leaders that generate trust and confidence. Authentic leaders are self-aware. They recognise their own strengths and weakness and are prepared to share them. They are prepared to share their own mistakes and be vulnerable in the process. They allow (and encourage) all employees to share their ideas, opinions, concerns, and experiences. They listen to all sides of an argument without bias or judgement.

They are open and honest both in sharing information and their own feelings. When they do not have the answer to a question, they will admit the fact, and take action to find the answer. When they have been unable to take an action, they committed to, they openly and honestly explain the reasons why and the additional actions they are going to take. They engage in status-quo communication. In addition to openly and honestly communicating when things are going to change, they also communicate things are not changing. They do not allow rumour and conjecture to fill communication vacuums and recognise that employees need a sense of certainty and stability.

Authentic leaders lead by example and thereby foster authenticity and transparency among their team. These leaders put the needs of the organisation and team over their own needs. They are consistent, reliable, and possess integrity. Authentic leaders inspire trust and motivation.

8. Feedback

Employees want to have a voice in their organisation, and it is difficult to make a case that they should trust you, if you do not capture that feedback and act upon it.

Employees also want to trust that their leaders can be trusted to give them honest and constructive feedback on their performance. Leaders must be prepared to have the difficult conversations and not sugar-coat poor performance. This is not authentic leadership and only leads to mistrust.

In addition to providing employees with feedback on their performance, leaders should proactively solicit feedback from their team members, colleagues, and peers on their performance. They must be prepared to embrace the good, and not so good, and act accordingly.

9. Monitoring

Stop it!! Unless you have specific reasons for monitoring employees that you are prepared to share with them, do not monitor them. You are telling them that you do not trust them.

If you are monitoring to detect suspicious behavior such as sensitive information being shared outside the organisation, share the results with employees and allow them to provide feedback. You do not have to reveal the culprits, but the activity detected will enable employees to accept the monitoring.

If you are monitoring working hours, not to ensure employees are working a set number of hours, but to intervene when an employee is repeatedly working longer hours than needed to determine the reasons and put in place mitigating actions. It could be that your employee is finding it hard to delineate between personal and work life when working from home. They can be provided with guidance and support. Once again, share the results and the actions taken.

It is important to note that if you are monitoring activity such keyboard strokes with the misguided illusion that this equates to productivity, you will drive the behaviours you want to see. Employees have already found many ways in which to leave the keyboard whilst it still appears to be used. A paper clip in the insert key, a heavy weight, or a mouse on an analogy watch, will all do the trick. This is the ultimate employee response to mistrust of their managers.

Instead of worrying that your employees are not working and therefore resort to monitoring, managers must change their mindset. The mindset is that you trust your employees to do the right thing and work when they need to achieve the outcomes required. When you make yourself vulnerable by placing this trust in them, rather than micromanaging them, the trust and all its benefits will flourish in your team.

10. Psychological safety

When we start a conversation about trust and psychological safety, we start the chicken or egg debate. Psychological safety is a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes. When employees know they can be open and honest without any fear of repercussion or reprimand, there is trust. When employees trust the leader and the rest of the team, they will have psychological safety.

When there is no trust or psychological safety, there will be silence which could be the worst type of silence – the deadly silence. Employees will not share their thoughts or idea, concerns, or worries. Managers will not receive feedback that a change in direction may be needed or that an intended change is the wrong thing to do. Employees may even lie to be seen to say the ‘right’ thing.

Leaders also establish trust by praising publicly and correcting privately. Positively reinforce the behaviours you want to see more of by recognising and commending an employee in the team setting. When something does not go as planned, leaders ask, “What can we do better next time?” There is no blame or finger pointing. The accountability is with the leader. Accountability generates trust.

Trust begets trust

When employees are trusted, they will tend to trust in return. Employees must feel trusted to reciprocate the trust. Leaders must demonstrate the trust and be consistent with it.

At the start of a year that is going to bring its own challenges and opportunities following on from two years of disruption, uncertainty and change, the time is now to evaluate the level of trust in your organisation and team. Where trust is lacking, work diligently to rebuild it. The benefits will be tumultuous.