Trust is the base of every relationship. Be it personal or professional, trust can make or break a relationship.
Working in a trustworthy and friendly environment is a blessing. It opens new doors to possibilities and personal growth, which eventually helps the company succeed.
It’s imperative that all team members act in a mutually trusted manner if you want your organization to succeed. In practice, however, it is not as easy as it sounds. A study conducted by Zety, HR, and engagement leaders found that only 1 out of 5 employees trust their company leaders deeply. Half of the employees also distrust HR.
No matter where you work, trust is essential. Employees without it are less motivated and productive. According to PwC studies, workers in high-trust companies experience 74% less stress, exhibit 50% increased productivity, and burnout is 40% lower.
Why is it important to have trust at work?
A trust culture fosters honesty, psychological safety, and mutual respect between employees and employers. When employees are proud of their workplace, they are more likely to go the extra mile for your organization. It also reduces turnover when employees feel secure at work.
Building and maintaining employee trust should be at the top of your list, no matter how long your to-do list maybe it is part of employee performance management. If you put it on the back burner, productivity and employee satisfaction will decline. Today, more and more organizations realize how critical workplace trust is. In the last five years, 42 percent of CEOs have increased the importance they place on building trust with employees from 96 percent to 100 percent (Source: https://www.crainsnewyork.com/).
Trust motivates employees to do more than complete their work. By engaging your employees, companies get better results and do better work. It’s no wonder that 80% of HR professionals associate engagement with trust in leaders. 55% of business executives say a lack of trust in the workplace is a fundamental danger to their organization (Source: achievers.com).
Investing in a workplace trust will also help you build a diverse and inclusive environment that makes your employees feel more connected to one another. It also fosters a psychologically safe environment where your team members can ask questions, share ideas, and express themselves openly.
How to build trust in simple steps?
It’s time to learn more about building trust in your life and work. This is now that you know what trust is and why it’s so incredibly essential. To build trust, you must act. The process won’t happen by itself.
How to build trust in any relationship can be found in the steps below.
1. Be a good listener: Your teammates are distinct individuals with their own opinions and points of view. Allow them to express themselves, and when they do, pay close attention. Positive working relationships are founded on mutual understanding and trust.
Active listening is a wonderful way to enhance your listening abilities. This is making a concerted effort to ask your staff questions and urge them to explain so you can understand what they’re saying. Every day, there are opportunities to listen. Set aside some time in meetings, for example, for workers to share their work experience and feelings. Remember to listen to both positive and negative input. You should also indicate that you are receptive to their opinion whether you agree with it or not.
2. Gather and act on comments: HRs and managers cannot be everywhere at the same time to receive all essential input from workers. Employees want a voice in their business. It’s difficult to persuade them to trust you if you’re unwilling to record their input and act on it quickly. You must solicit input constantly: only 10% of employees are pleased with yearly feedback requests, while 64% desire feedback at any time. Look for a feedback solution that includes pulse surveys so you can collect information from team members regularly, an employee-driven feedback channel, such as a workplace chatbot, or HR management software like HRM Mitra so your workers may offer their opinions at any time. You can also opt for SaaS-based HRM Software to keep track of every employee’s work and help you consolidate valuable and correct feedback.
3. Show appreciation: Yes, your staff get paid for their efforts, but this is insufficient evidence that you respect and trust them. It is critical to recognize them regularly. You may express gratitude by sending thank-you cards, vocal appreciation, and providing physical prizes such as bonuses and staff awards.
Everyday acknowledgment develops a sense of community and helps employees feel emotionally at ease. So, recognizing your staff regularly can increase their faith in you. Approximately 90% of employees who receive gratitude or praise from their supervisor express high levels of confidence in that person. This proportion dropped to 48% for those who did not receive recognition (Source: achievers.com).
So, if you want to increase trust in your company, capitalize on the clear link between trust and recognition.
4. Empower your team by first trusting them: If you take the initial step and demonstrate your faith in your staff, they will reciprocate. So, how can you demonstrate confidence in your employees? Encourage professional development and autonomy to empower them. Add more obligations to their plate. Invite them to meetings they would not normally attend. For example, allow a sales representative to attend a strategy meeting to share on-the-ground observations to steer your future sales and marketing efforts. They will remember your faith in them, and you will profit from their unique perspective. This empowering play enhances employee performance management software. While millennials see their boss as their key source of learning and growth, only 46% feel they fulfill this function. Act as a cheerleader for your staff, rather than controlling them, and you’ll reap rewards.
5. Be truthful and open: It’s impossible to dispute that stating the truth is difficult. When circumstances are tough, it’s easier to tell your staff what they want to hear. You may inspire your colleagues to trust you by being honest with them while sympathetic to their concerns.
However, if you are not honest with a member of your team, you may lose more than just their trust and respect. Every connection, professional or personal, is built on trust. Even a long-term relationship might be irreversibly damaged by one untruth.
You should also be open when discussing changes to company procedures and upgrades so your staff is always up to speed.
Conclusion
Businesses’ trust levels may be rising, but that doesn’t mean leaders should ease up on their efforts to instill trust in their teams and the organization as a whole. It takes a lot of effort to build trust and very little effort to lose it. Once gone, trust can be difficult to regain. Employees who trust their bosses, on the other hand, will go to great lengths for them and be more interested in the firm. In fact, in today’s economic world, developing trust may be your most crucial role as a leader. Employee performance management software like HRM Mitra can help establish this mutual trust.
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