How to Build Trust in the Workplace

Every professional relationship needs mutual trust to thrive. If you want to develop your reputation and build a network of reliable people, you need to be trustworthy. Never forget that the success of a company is not solely dependent on one person—it’s always a team effort. Any achievement in a business can be attributed to the contribution of all the people in the workplace.

However, without trust, employees cannot rely on each other. If you’re a business leader, you must take measures to create a company culture where people feel secure and confident. As a manager, you need to learn how to build trust in the workplace.

How to Build Trust in a Team

Here’s a quick overview of building trust with employees:

• Clear Communication
• Dependability
• Respectful Interactions
• Support and Encouragement
• Empathy and Understanding
• Consistency
• Acknowledging and Sharing Mistakes:
• Empowering Team Members
• Regular Feedback and Constructive Criticism
• Celebrate Success Together

What is Trust in the Workplace?

Trust in the workplace is a crucial factor for fostering a positive working environment where employees feel supported, valued and motivated. Trust is built through leaders being reliable, communicating openly, and aligning their actions with their words

As a leader, building trust in the workplace involves several key behaviors:

• Fulfilling promises and maintaining consistency, which builds your reputation as a dependable leader.
• Being approachable and likable, because people tend to trust those they feel comfortable around.
• Valuing authenticity, showing empathy, and respecting humanity, which makes staff feel valued and understood.
• Supporting team members inclusively, acknowledging their efforts, and learning from errors – yours and theirs.
• Striking a balance between achieving results and considering the emotional well-being of your team.
• Actively respecting and considering the ideas and viewpoints of others to cultivate a respectful workplace environment.
• Always ensuring your actions align with your words – not just occasionally, but consistently.
• The dual facets of trust play a crucial role in a leader’s ability to inspire and motivate. When employees trust their leader, they are more confident in that leader’s decisions. This confidence persists even through times of uncertainty, guided by the expectation that the leader will act as promised.

Aligning what you say with what you do is fundamental in establishing trust in the workplace, which is vital for the success of any organization. It’s common for employees to gauge their belief in an organization by observing the congruence between a leader’s rhetoric and behavior. Discrepancies here can lead to decreased employee engagement and a lack of commitment.

Building a culture of trust starts with leadership and requires active participation from all levels of the organization. This collective effort can forge a strong bond of trust that motivates employees to contribute effectively to their organization’s objectives.

Why Is Trust in the Workplace So Important?

There is formal research measuring the effect that trust has on a company. Harvard researcher and Founding Director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies Paul J. Zak spent two decades studying the connection between leadership, trust, and organizational performance. According to Zak, employees at companies with high trust experience the following benefits:

• 50% higher productivity
• 106% more energy at work
• 74% less stress
• 76% more engagement
• 13% fewer sick days
• 40% less burnout
• 29% more satisfaction with life

Instead of instilling fear, it’s better to understand what trust in the workplace means to your employees. As a manager, you should build a creative environment and encourage collaboration. This way, employees will always think outside the box and not be afraid to commit mistakes. When there’s fear of being punished, people are less likely to take initiative. On the other hand, taking risks is crucial to innovation.

How to Build Trust in the Workplace

Trust building has become even more challenging, especially since many people are working from home. Since remote work is likely to stay, organizations must realign their strategies. Thankfully, there are many examples of building trust in the workplace. Let’s take a look at some of the best ones:

Give employees a voice

The level of trust in the workplace can be low when people don’t feel like they can control their careers. To alleviate this problem, managers must allow their employees to speak. Moreover, they should empower people with information and open opportunities for them to take action. When workers feel that they have a voice when it comes to crucial issues, they feel secure that their concerns and needs will be addressed.

As an employer, one of the biggest mistakes you can commit is avoiding two-way communication with your employees. You can send numerous newsletters and emails to your workers, but that won’t do much to foster trust in the workplace.

Don’t get defensive

If your employees don’t trust you, you cannot expect them to be loyal to you. Moreover, your workers’ reliance on you will depend on how you respond to problems in the workplace. Sadly, not many employees say that their managers respond constructively to work issues.

When problems arise, you should reach out to your subordinates and ask them how you can help. You should know about their concerns and worries and must be aware of the existence of issues to be able to respond to them constructively.

Avoid getting defensive when a problem presents itself to you. Look at it objectively and allow yourself to come up with various ways to fix it. If an employee approaches you with a concern, listen to them attentively and look at the problem from various perspectives. Sometimes, people simply want a listening ear. So, before you even jump into resolving the issue, give the person a chance to share their concerns.

Create a transparent company culture

Transparency usually translates as accountability in communication. These are just some of the various ways you can be open with your employees:

• Provide regular feedback
• Be honest
• Remain empathetic and sensitive to situations
• Set reasonable expectations
• Stay connected with your employees

Without transparency in the workplace, people will come up with different versions of the truth. Consequently, there will be widespread misinformation in the organization. In the end, people will feel left out and frustrated.

Do not micromanage your employees

Has a supervisor ever micromanaged your workflow and your decisions? If so, you know how demotivating it is to work in such an environment. After all, you’d always doubt your abilities and second-guess your decisions. No matter how you look at it, micromanaging can have negative effects in the workplace.

Traqq is a user-friendly time tracker that can automatically log your employees’ work hours. Even if you’re miles and miles away, you can still monitor your team’s performance. The app will capture activity levels based on keyboard movements and mouse clicks and scrolls.

Be approachable and authentic

According to the Edelman research we mentioned earlier, 71% of employees believe their CEO should talk about sensitive topics and respond to challenging times. We know how difficult the pandemic has been for all of us. During trying times, it’s only natural for employees to seek reassurance from their employers. Indeed, trust is established with proper leadership.

A Harvard Business Review study shares the three elements of building trust as a leader:

• Positive Relationships
• Good Judgment/Expertise
• Consistency

The authors analyzed over 80,000 360-degree reviews and found the importance of those elements in building trust. Those who scored above 60% for the three factors also received an overall 80% trust score. If the person didn’t display any of the qualities, they were given a 20% score. Indeed, when a leader possesses a clear vision and an authentic voice, they are likely to be trusted by their employees. On the other hand, when there’s a disconnect between a manager’s words and actions, their subordinates become disengaged.

Take the human-centric approach

Of course, as a leader, you always have to think about the growth of your company. However, remember that you won’t get to where you want to be without your employees. So, as much as you can, build a human-centric workplace where trust levels are high. To achieve this, you need to embrace transformational leadership. With this strategy, you get to inspire your workers to work towards the same goals. By putting them first, you empower them to be creative and innovative. When they feel that they have control over their professional life, they are likely to foster trust in the workplace.

Conclusion

Building trust can be difficult, especially if you’re managing an organization with several departments. You have to accept that you cannot monitor everything and that there’s only a certain level of control you can achieve within a company. However, with the tips we shared in this article, you should have everything you need to get started. Always remember that your company’s success or failure depends on the level of trust in your workplace.