It’s very much a case of “You don’t miss the water ‘til the well runs dry.” No-one gives trust in the workplace a second thought until it’s lost or damaged. And trust is vital – a recent online poll conducted by The Ken Blanchard Companies has found that 53% of participants had left an organisation because of trust issues.
“The problem is that organisations pay too little attention to the issue of trust until it has been lost,”says Cindy Olmstead, Blanchard’s organisational change expert. She adds that
“Often they have no idea how the actions of their management teams influence the trust others place in them, or what they can do to be trustworthy.”
All sorts of bad working practices can damage trust. And in a poor workplace, perceptions can do a great deal of harm, too. For instance, that new recruit may have earned their promotion, but if it’s not correctly explained, existing staff’s faith in the organisation will be dented. Similarly, news of the chief executive’s bonus will affect employees’ trust, coming as it does shortly after redundancy announcements.
Olmstead goes on to highlight how particularly important trust is in today’s workplace, where there are fewer opportunities for it to develop naturally between colleagues. She says: “When people are working remotely, across different time zones, they need to trust each other more. If there is no trust, productivity and morale are affected, and, once lost, rebuilding trust can be a long, drawn out and often costly process. Sometimes it isn’t possible at all, and then you know you’re really in trouble.”
Trust is such an essential part of working life that sometimes we forget that we can’t manufacturer it. As John Knell of the consultancy Intelligence Agency says, “
Trust is an end product. It is a consequence of other things – you can’t mandate it, you have to earn it, and you earn it through a range of things. For a business, it’s about quality of service, the integrity of your people, what people associate with you, and how you act as a responsible business.”
So, how do we build it, and – more urgently still – how do we repair it?
Comments (3)
Posted by Angela Mansi | February 20, 2008 3:43 PM
Trust is the cornerstone of group dynamics, and essential to group work and organisational effectiveness. Groups which have a high level of trust perform significantly better than when trust is lacking. Trust at all levels of workers is important but that between a manager and their team is crucial; if trust is lost, the cohesion amongst the work team will erode and subordinates will withdraw support. Worse, it will lead to an increase in absenteeism, turnover, conflict and safety problems.
Subgroups can form with their own personal agenda so that the goals of the organisation can be affected. Trust can be destroyed by perceived ‘dark sides’ of personality – those parts of our personality that we usually keep hidden from others, but seep out under pressure: arrogance, contempt, incompetence, insensitivity, over-controlling, unfairness, lack of clarity and transparency, lack of support when it is needed or hearing something that was said in confidence repeated in office gossip all destroy trust.
In most organisations, loss of trust is damaging in terms of employee loyalty, profit margins and reputation. In some, such as emergency services and flight crew, loss of trust can not only erode the working relationship but can cost lives. And finally, loss of trust will lead to what is termed ‘manager derailment, which is when managers who are technically competent are promoted for perceived personality qualities, but fail in the role for which they have been promoted, either through lack of training or lack of good interpersonal skills. So, organisations need to take care they do not destroy the trust of their workforce!
Posted on February 20, 2008 15:43
Posted by Paul Backhouse | February 25, 2008 10:47 AM
John Lewis Partnership has long understood the importance of trust in the workplace and over the decades we’ve developed a powerful and distinctive Partnership culture in the form of a written constitution. Its roots lie in the extraordinary vision and ideals of our founder John Spedan Lewis. The Constitution states that ‘the happiness of its members’ is the Partnership’s ultimate purpose. As a Partner it’s about the way we treat each other day-to-day, how we deal with our customers and our suppliers. This culture underpins the respect in which our business is held, the trust our customers place in us and our reputation within our local communities. Our Partners take a pride in working for a business that has these values and this is consistently reflected in our annual employee survey.
Posted on February 25, 2008 10:47
Posted by Stuart Duff | February 25, 2008 10:48 AM
Trust is a complex psychological concept. Building and repairing trust are the result of a considerable number of factors, including personality and past experiences in life. Personality research has long demonstrated that, for instance, in the work place there are just as many people who are ‘sceptics’ and likely to hold back their trust as there are people who readily give their trust. Equally, some people can ‘forgive and forget’ easily, while others will only experience one breach of trust before they will put up the barriers. The feeling of being let down or disappointed can be so strong for some employees that it can be years before trust is repaired and re-established.
Our own cross-cultural research has revealed that there are two major ‘platforms’ for building trust. The first, cognitive trust, is built on the calculated and rational judgements that people make of each other, such as their reliability, integrity, competence and professionalism. The second, affective trust, is built on the emotional and social judgments we make of others, based on factors such as the care and concern displayed for the welfare of others and emotional connections that we make with our manager and employer. While cognitive trust can be fragile – one missed deadline or failure to respond can shatter the team’s faith in an individual – it is affective trust that will far more heavily influence the performance and motivation of teams.
For the manager, therefore, building and repairing trust both rely on consistently getting the basics right, which includes:
• How they demonstrate integrity in their decisions and judgements
• Their openness - and appropriateness - in communicating information
• Their technical competence and reliability in delivering commitments
• Their intention to support others, ahead of personal interests
The greatest difficulty for any manager or organisation is that lack of trust and scepticism are generally unspoken. Many employees can appear to trust and support their manager, yet in reality will be suspicious, judgmental and guarded with what they do or say. This is particularly the case with the more emotional elements of maintaining trust. Consequently, teams with higher levels of affective trust have more continuous and frequent communication, and communicate social and personal information in a way that allows stronger and more trusting work relationships to be formed.
Posted on February 25, 2008 10:48