Trust and Work Relationships

Trust is one of the most elusive, yet one of the most important things for a manager or supervisor to acquire.

When people lose faith in the messenger, they tune out the message and withhold commitment. Employees have long considered trust a sacred value in the work environment and, when they perceive that the bond has been broken, destructive forces arise that lead to hostility, over-reaction and productivity loss.

Here are tips for building the credibility required to achieve trusting relationships with co-workers:
  • Demonstrate a real concern for people – Provide the personal touch when sharing high impact news that affects the individual or the team. Take time to meet with people, go out of your way to work together with them and find out what they are thinking. Giving them the opportunity to contribute ideas and opinions adds dignity and meaning to a job in the eyes of most people.
     
  • Demonstrate consistency and fairness – Actions speak louder than words and you as the manager or supervisor must practice a behavior set that includes being reliable, following through on things, keeping promises, working ethically and fair personnel actions and application of the roles – doing these things right all the time.
     
  • Keep things out in the open – Secrecy breeds suspicion, which makes effective communication a key factor in building trust. Find out what employees would like to know and tell them as much as you can (without breaking management confidence of course) to meet their informational needs and to allay fears. Communicate business strategy and how employees fit into it as it relates to the work unit and their individual job. Explain the rationale for change. Address rumors before they take root and fester.

Gaining trust and keeping it is hard work that takes time. There are no magic gimmicks or simple solutions; it’s a matter of the manager being real day in and day out. Trust can’t be created by big raises, company picnics or a nice work environment. It can only be generated through fairness, honesty and consistency.

10 tips for building trust and strengthening relationships with employees

Q: I just got some feedback that my employees don't trust me. What can I do to turn that around?

A. One such checklist we liked was developed by Randstand Work Solutions based on its extensive employee research in organizations around the world.

Here are the Randstand ten tips for building trust:

  1. Be fast or be last. In these tumultuous times, don’t for a minute think you can sit on information, whether it’s good or bad. Seven out of 10 employees say they want to receive even partial information as decisions are being made, even if things might change in the future. Be quick to let employees know about changes at work.
      
  2. Cultivate the grapevine. Don’t let rumors about workplace issues get out of control. And don’t think the grapevine is flourishing. While 83% of employers think workers first hear about major changes from them, 46% of employees say they get it from the grapevine.
     
  3. KISS. (Keep it simple, stupid). Employees want clear and easy-to-understand information about what’s happening. Clarity is crucial. Don’t try to spin bad news into innocuous twaddle.
     
  4. Tell the truth. These days, instead of wondering if the boss is capable, workers wonder if the boss is honest. Expect employees to ask the tough questions. Be prepared to tell them the truth.
     
  5. Tell the whole truth. You can’t hold back pieces of information that might not be well accepted at the time in the hopes that later on employees will be in a better mood. They’ll resent not hearing the whole story at one time.
      
  6. Provide a road map. Give them an idea of where the organization is headed. While 83% of employers say they give workers that kind of information, only 68% of employees report receiving it.
      
  7. Say something good once in a while. Nearly 7 in 10 employees say management needs to communicate the good news as well as the bad. Workers need to hear the good news from the boss as much as they need to take the bad.
      
  8. Get personal. Whatever the news is that you’re providing, employees want to know what it means to them personally.
     
  9. Give details. If the organization is facing really hard times, be clear about how layoffs will be handled and the exact criteria employed. Fear is not a motivator. Only one in three employees say people worker harder when they are worried about their jobs. Open and honest communication in times of crisis or uncertainty is crucial.
      
  10. Listen. Last, but by not means least, take the time to gather input from your people. Employees want to be heard. Many times they have good ideas. In organizations that take action on employee feedback resulting in positive change, 8 in10 of the employees say morale is excellent or good.

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