Do you know what your employees think of you? When was the last time you asked them for feedback?
Do you trust your employees to get on with their job or do you find yourself having to micro manage? Do you have the confidence in your staff to manage large projects or do you manage them to ensure they are done right? Perhaps you are constantly checking that employees have done as you’ve asked.
It’s imperative that trust works both ways in an organisation. Identify how you could trust your employees a bit more and implement them, equally identify ways that you can gain your employees trust.
Building trust takes time, it can take just one bad act to destroy trust and rebuilding it takes time. Build trust from the beginning with a new recruit and keep building upon this throughout their career.
Communicate
Communication is vital to building trust. Nothing erodes trust and creates resentment like a lack of communication. When people feel out of the loop they easily become disengaged and begin to fill in the gaps themselves creating an environment where rumours soon begin to circulate. This will lead to people working to their own goals rather than working collaboratively towards shared goals.
Your, words and actions should be aligned, as they promote trust and build a working environment founded on it. If they are disconnected it will erode the trust your employees have in you.
Shared visions and values
The organisations visions and values define the direction of the company and the methods on how it will get there. These need to be clearly and regularly communicated to employees to embed in to the company culture and the mindsets of employees.
Collaboration
Collaborating and sharing goals between employees, managers and departments will enable them to work more effectively together, so you should lead by example and always focus on shared goals and working as a team. Don’t pretend that you have all the answers, use your employees’ expertise and ensure you are well informed.
No matter what level the employee is or how long they have been working at the organisation, everyone should be treated as an equal partner and given a platform so that their voices are heard. Get out there amongst your staff, meet with them and seek their opinions, ideas and feedback.
Create a working environment that gives people freedom, when mistakes are made use it as a learning opportunity, letting people grow rather than allowing a culture of blame, which will stifle creativity and productivity. Support your team, don’t distance yourself from mistakes and own up to your own mistakes in a timely manner, these will help to build trust in the organisation.
Integrity and being consistent
Always confront the hard issues in a timely manner. For example, if an employee is frequently absent don’t let it go unaddressed. Other employees will be aware of these absences and will be watching how you manage it. Remember to be consistent with how you treat all your employees and refrain from discussing any issues about an individual employee in front of others.
At the very foundation of building trust is integrity. If you can’t be honest and keep your promises how can you expect your employees to trust you? In any business, changes will occur and as an employer you will make mistakes. If you are unable to keep a commitment, then explain what is happening as soon as possible. How you deal with this will reflect on you as a leader and how your people perceive you. When employees trust you, they have confidence in your decisions. You aren’t infallible, and nobody expects you to be, but by being honest and consistent you can gain respect and trust.