Whether you are looking at how well you are engaged, how productive people are or assessing performance issues, for anyone in an organisation building trust is one of the key factors to consider. The foundation of all relationships is built on trust, it is just as important professionally as it is personally. In a team environment if you find poor productivity and performance, you can be sure there is an element of mistrust at the heart of the issue.

Any business looking to grow and develop, or looking to enhance development activities should actively encourage Leaders, Managers and Team Members to look at ways to build trust. Productivity and performance will be high, employee engagement scores increase, and you have a happier and healthy business.

Using our Organisational Trust 360 review we identified one of the big areas to show lack of trust: When a manager mistrusts their team and is unaware if it. The environment is great, the team are happy, but output is low. An example of mistrust: when a team member is unsure or unable to complete a task, they turn to their manager for support. The manager, with all good intentions, takes over the task themselves as it is often easier and quicker for them to do it. Or, a team member is not yet fully confident in the task they are completing, they require some initial feedback until they are fully competent. If the manager doesn’t allow them to see how they are doing, allow them to be supported in figuring out why they are competent, then the team member doesn’t build skill or confidence. Whilst adding pressure to the manager to their time and workload – this also signals a lack of trust.

The four C’s of building Trust

We have spent many years delivering training courses for Leaders, Managers and Teams. We have coached with all levels of management and their team’s. We took all this experience and developed the four C’s of building trust. We have since taken this forward and developed our Organisational Trust 360.

To drive high performance, to build management and leadership capability and develop an organisation of trust we must be able to assess trust at every level. Every employer we speak with knows the value of trust in the organisation, however many are unaware of the actions that build or erode trust.

Competence

The skills and knowledge to perform well within a role or task is the key to their job role. Competence is about how well someone demonstrates their ability.

Connection

How well someone is connected to the people around them. How they care about and communicate with others, building rapport and taking a genuine interest.

Commitment

How much someone is motivated and committed to their work and actions, reliably managing others expectations.

Credibility

Someone who Is honest and open, and treats others fairly. Acts with integrity in line with the values of the organisation.

Try this quick exercise to help you asses Trust:

Think about some of the relationships you have in workplace:

  • One relationship where you feel you trust someone well.
  • Another that you feel you don’t trust so well.

Using the four C’s of Building Trust, assess both relationships. Score yourself on a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being high and 1 being low). Look at those relationship and understand why one is trusted and the other might have some work to do. It is always important to self-assess when building relationships. It may be you that scores lower in one of the four C’s and thus someone may not have total trust in you.

Organisational trust

Trust is built on the words and actions you take as a Leader, Manager or Team Member. Once you have assessed the trust levels across an organisation it is then about looking at what areas need to be developed. You need to show you trust the actions of others as much as they can trust you.

As a manager you need you need to be able to have your team members trust you, and in turn you trust them back. Not only will you have a better working relationship, but it shows the rest of the team how to trust each other.

You can support building workplace trust by:

  • Develop the skills and capabilities of all team members. Empower them to own their day-to-day responsibilities.
  • Ask questions rather than give answers. Next time a team member tells you they have completed a task correctly, ask them why they believe they have.
  • Be H.O.T: Honest, Open and Trustworthy.

Trust takes time to gain, seconds to lose, and forever to build it back up again. The trust levels between colleagues, managers and leaders will be a deciding factor in how productive and successful your organisation is.

Want to talk about Trust, or our Organisational Trust 360? Please get in touch.