Four Ways to Build Trust with Your Teams
What matters: In today’s still largely remote work environments, a leader’s ability to build trust is a critical component of organizational success and growth.
Trust is a powerful organizational currency that can’t be bought; it must be earned.
What’s the most common answer to the question, “What makes a good leader?” Trust. People may talk about authenticity, vulnerability, or the importance of expertise and credibility, but what lies beneath most of those answers is an individual’s ability to create a culture of trust. And with good reason.
The last several years have thrust employee experience as a whole into the limelight. One of the biggest shifts it has endured started in March 2020, when eligible employees were either encouraged or forced to work remotely, setting off a series of significant changes to the workplace and leading to one of the largest and most widespread job resignations in recent years. Most recently, the phenomenon of quiet quitting has been a focus as the ripple effects of the pandemic continue to permeate our work lives. And yet, we don’t need to look far to see bad employee experience practices continue to play out where leadership and managerial wherewithal is left wanting.
“Employees in high-trust organizations are more productive, have more energy at work, collaborate better with their colleagues, and stay with their employers longer than people working at low-trust companies.”
Despite all this, even though we know that trust builds productive, healthy, and collaborative work environments, many organizations and their leaders simply aren’t treating trust as the business imperative that it is.
In today’s still largely remote work environments, a leader’s ability to build trust is indeed a critical component of organizational success and growth. Amid economic uncertainty, market pressures, and general unease, fostering a sense of trust from your teams and employees is key for leaders in 2023. Here are four ways to start building trust with your teams for next year and beyond:
BE CONSISTENT
Do what you say you’re going to do. I don’t know if there’s a golden rule of leadership, but if there isn’t, it should be this. When we agree to something and then deprioritize it, make excuses, or flat out fail to deliver, we send the message that we don’t respect the commitments that we’ve made. Demonstrating consistency and proving that you can be relied on (even for the small, seemingly insignificant tasks) is the most effective way to build trust.
GET YOUR HANDS DIRTY
One of the quickest ways to turn people off is by reminding them of your title or position within the organization, even inadvertently. One of the keys to building trust is authentically being able to put such labels aside. Find ways to contribute that demonstrate respect for the work that gets done at all levels. Raise your hand to take on a task that usually falls to more junior members of your team. In other words, do the work. It will do wonders to build trust and you’ll most definitely learn something along the way.
SHOW VULNERABILITY (but don’t make your problems their problems)
Establishing trust in any relationship means being vulnerable. For there to be a real connection, we have to be willing to let down our guard. We need to put being a human ahead of being a boss. This may show up as concern, disappointment, or even self-doubt. Vulnerability is a healthy way for leaders to be truly seen and can go a long way when it comes to building trust. However, there are boundaries that should be respected. If we start treating every team meeting as a venting session, this approach can easily backfire.
ADVOCATE DAILY
Big moments of recognition can go a long way, but generally, people prefer the stability of knowing someone has their back day in and day out. Look for opportunities to highlight the work, energy, or mindset of people on your team to build them up and promote goodwill. Be there for them, through thick and thin. This might mean being available late to work through a challenge together. It could be paying extra attention when you know something is going on at home and lightening the load a bit. When people feel valued, appreciated, and respected, they are much more likely to trust that their leaders have their best interests in mind.
Trust is a powerful organizational currency that can’t be bought; it must be earned. And only through trust can employees feel capable of thriving in today’s complex work environments, leading to more effective teams, higher-performing individuals, and a better company culture. That, in turn, leads to better delivery, happier clients, and, ultimately, sustained growth.
Jenny Garner is Head of Employee Experience at Salient Global.