Building Trust - Foundation for a Better Workplace

Nine out of ten employees experience gossip and backbiting as the number one breach of trust at work.

Lack of trust also leads to workers who don't feel like their manager is always acting in their interest, and workers who sense they can't take co-workers at their word. The result is a disfunctional workforce, let alone an HR migraine!

While the importance of trust is widely recognized as a foundation for successful relationships these days, many organizations are now incorporating it as part of their mission statement or even adopting it as a core competency. There are still plenty of problems for companies in addressing this area.

Step one is making workers aware of how trust is built, violated and, whenever necessary, repaired. Training programs that define trust for employees and provide them with instruction for preserving and fixing it should be given on an ongoing basis, but primers may be necessary at certain critical junctions in a company's life such as during mergers and acquisitions.

Training that emphasizes the importance of communicating fears and concerns directly with managers and co-workers, rather than relying on the old gossip mill, therefore, is essential.

In addition to unclear (or unused) channels of communication, workers may feel their manager doesn't trust them if they end up doing work that doesn't take advantage of the skills they were hired for. When people have skills, abilities or insights they are not able to offer, they often feel as though they are not being trusted by their leaders. They feel as though they are not being perceived as trustworthy, and not feeling trusted, they are not trusting in return.

Trainers and HR execs who are able to effectively match employees' skill sets to their work may see an organization that's not only more efficient, but one that suffers a lot less from interpersonal problems.

Source: Inside Training Newsletter, May 31, 2006