Many leaders believe in the fact that ‘Trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair’. We completely agree with this statement!
Learning how to build trust is critical if you are going to be successful as an employee, manager, or leader. Often, building rapport is the initial step to inculcating trust in the workplace.
So, if you don’t have trust, communication and coordination will be extremely difficult. In addition, a lack of trust can even bring down the entire team/ organization.
But fortunately, there are specific effective methods to build trust in the workplace.
So, in this guide, we will talk about how one can start building trust in the workplace. But first, let us quickly review the basics of trust.
What Is Trust?
Well, you might not be sure how to define trust. So, let’s start from the basics. Trust is:
- Having a sense of security and confidence while dealing with a colleague, friend, etc.
- Having the ability to predict that someone is dependable and reliant.
- Earning a certain level of credibility over time.
Trust is a vital part of all conversations. In addition, it plays a prominent role in workplace communication and conflict resolution.
Why Is Trust Important In The Workplace?
Both employers & employees benefit when there is mutual trust in the organization. Trust can help build strong work relationships, thus setting good precedents for teamwork, collaboration, employee work performance, etc.
Here’s why trust is vital in the workplace.
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High Morale & Less Stress
The workplace environment where trust is the foundation will likely have high morale. People can work without ‘watching their back’, thus being less stressed about the work.
On the contrary, a company lacking trust can result in a stressful environment, thus affecting productivity and efficiency. In addition, it can also lead to high absenteeism and reduced retention.
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Change Isn’t Resisted/ Feared
Change is inevitable, and the modern workforce sees regular change. The management team, tasks, roles, etc., change consistently.
Sometimes for some workers, a slight change brings fear if they lack trust in the leader or organization. But when workers have complete trust in the management, there’s less fear and resistance around change.
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Ethical Decision-Making
Managers and staff are likely to make ethical decisions in a trusting workplace. People realize that an unethical action will affect them and the workplace culture to a great extent. Thus, trust is essential to create decisions that affect workplace culture.
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Improved Employee Performance
When employees trust and respect a leader, they will likely accept their feedback on their work and commit to improving. As a result, the employee is more likely to view the feedback as coaching instead of criticism, thus resulting in improved employee performance.
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Enhanced Productivity
Untrustworthy colleagues and lack of trust can cause the team to gossip. In addition, it can lead to less or negligible cooperation among employees. Moreover, the actions of the employees aren’t productive enough, which hinders the organization’s growth as a whole.
So, if employees have little to complain about, they can work effectively, thus improving productivity.
Tips To Inculcate Trust In The Workplace
Being an integral part of corporate training, there are numerous ways to inculcate trust in the workplace. Here are a few of them. Take a look!
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Building Trust = Hard Work
Trust must be earned. But it is a conscious effort to keep your promises and align your behavior with morals, purpose, & values. Thus, building trust is worth the effort because it can be challenging to form it again once trust is broken.
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Be Honest & Supportive
Even when you find it difficult to tell the truth to your employees, you must do it! You must understand that employees need to know what is going on in the workplace or among teams. Therefore, it is vital to communicate facts while considering their efforts and feelings.
Moreover, in such scenarios, showing support and understanding to your team members even when they commit mistakes is highly crucial. This will go a long way in building your trust as a leader.
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Be Transparent
Transparency opens wide doors to honest interactions, respect, and collaboration. It can further help remove skepticism and mystery from the workplace that can otherwise result in mistrust.
Thus, consistency and regular communication should be a priority of trustworthy leaders. In addition, effective communication can offer employees clarity regarding tasks.
However, it is vital to note that being transparent doesn’t mean that you have or need to give answers all the time. Trustworthy leaders aren’t afraid to say they do not know a particular thing. Instead, they say, ‘I have no knowledge regarding it, but I will research it and come back to you shortly.’
Think yourself:
You would definitely trust your leader who has such an optimistic attitude. Right?
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Be Quite Sometimes
Actively listen to your employees and use different tools so that the employees feel that they are heard. In addition, you must also engage in a dialogue with employees, allowing them to ask questions, voice concerns, and get solutions. Thus, do your best to stop ‘talking at’ your employees; encourage two-way, honest conversations instead.
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Be Consistent
Consistently doing what you say is vital to building trust in the workplace. If you don’t have the required consistency, workers can build feelings of mistrust and even might go out looking for a trustworthy work environment.
Thus, keeping commitments and matching your actions with words is the ultimate thing you can do to build successful work relationships.
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Build In Accountability
As a leader, when you acknowledge the employees’ successes and mistakes, they see you as credible and are bound to follow your lead. Thus, you must promote open interactions. This will help foster accountability by building processes that become integral to the workplace culture, like evaluating & reviewing a project, status reports, etc.
Conclusion
Trust is highly valuable for organizations that intend to grow in the long run. Moreover, a lot of hard work and effort is needed to inculcate and earn trust in the workplace, but very little time and effort to lose it!
Thus, employees who trust their leaders are productive and more engaged in their work. So, try and inculcate trust within the workplace as in today’s job market; building trust is one of the crucial responsibilities of a leader!