Trust is key to well-functioning relationships in life and at work. There are a multitude of studies into trust in the workplace including a PhD by our friend Dr Tracey Hirst. Notably, trust works differently for each individual and there remains a lack of clarity between risk and trust and the factors that lead to an individual's trust or distrust. In discussing trust of leaders and colleagues within teams, common themes tend to arise as to the influences of a person’s ability to trust, such as:
Doing as you say you are going to do (delivering)
Consistency of behaviour
Supportive in communications and action (such as advocating)
Integrity
Demonstration of vulnerability
Trust is surrounded by an expectation of obligation towards each other. These expectations are almost never written and are also often unspoken. The expectation remains silent and unfortunately can differ for each of us. The formation of trust is therefore at the mercy of each other’s expectation of behaviour as well as the actual behaviour displayed. At the crux of this expectation and behaviours are benevolence and integrity in ensuring the expectation of trust is fulfilled.
This means that whether you are trusted or not in the workplace, depends not only on consistency of your leadership integrity, kindness and fairness, but also on the psychological state and willingness of the other person in the relationship. Each colleague is constantly using their lived experience of their interactions with you to:
Calculate the benefits and consequences against the costs of the relationship (a rational assessment of trust); and
Create an emotional portfolio of experiences (an affective assessment of trust).
Interestingly it is affective trust that most influences perceptions of fairness and equity, even in the workplace.
How a leader handles a negative event, and displays of inconsistent behaviour with espoused values, has an impact on individual perceptions of fairness, justice and trust. Each small social interaction provides incremental clues that accumulate over time to assist in trust building.
Our ability to build trust in the workplace can be improved with effort. Here are five actions to improve the likelihood of building trust:
Values Alignment: Ensuring the values of the organisation, are aligned with your personal values and the values are displayed in your behaviours repeatedly and consistently. Over time, small cracks in this alignment become obvious to people who work with you and create dissonance due to the differences between what they are hearing and what they are seeing.
Be Sensitive: Demonstrate respect and be sensitive to the individual needs of your team. What do they need from you as a leader/colleague? What do they need from their role in the organisation? If you are not sure, be vulnerable and ask. Treat your colleagues with kindness and empathy for their challenges.
Create a Culture of Accountability: Lack of effective accountability within a team and an organisation attacks trust in the same way a virus attacks the human body. Poor accountability reduces consistency and therefore perception of fairness and the likelihood of trust.
Improve Cultural Competency: Trust is influenced by cultural contexts and attitudes to formal authority and has been shown to improve as cultural competency improves.
Communicate Effectively: Plan communications with care and awareness of the individual and group contexts of those receiving the communications. Be open and transparent in communications, including actively listening and being constructive in providing feedback. This is particularly applied to negative events that require diplomatic and sincere communications.
Finally talk about trust. Ask your colleagues about how they build trust and learn to trust in the workplace. Trust may take years to build with some people and sheer moments to lose. Talking about what is important to you in creating trust and asking others about what is important to them in building trust will help you work better together.