Let's Trust & Communicate
COMPONENTS OF GAINING EMPLOYEE TRUST
The Richmond Group USA TIPS
Employee Trust
Done Right
Do you think your employees trust you?
Rarely do employees admit to managers that they don’t trust them and often, leaders don’t discover the lack of trust until either a manager or an employee leaves.
Below, we provide some tips to set the groundwork for trust and communication between employees and employers to build a better workplace.
1. Set the tone of your workplace.
Set a baseline of trust and openness with your employees from day one. This will make it more comfortable for employees to speak up or come to you with any problems. If employees feel trusted, they feel more engaged.
2. Create time for open discussions.
With the uncertainty caused by the pandemic, employees need to trust that leaders and the company are there for them. As a leader, we encourage you to be open and flexible with a strong line of communication between the employee and employer. This way, employees feel comfortable acknowledging when they need extra support. In a high-empathy-based management environment, performance is about three times higher.
3. Create Certainty.
As a manager or leader, creating certainty for your employees is a great way to ground employees. Managers need to give employees autonomy, empowerment, and accountability, and focus on outcomes as they work to demonstrate and increase trust and certainty in the workplace.
4. Follow Through.
Mistrust arises when managers don’t do what they said they would do. Most employees understand that sometimes circumstances prevent you from keeping a commitment. Employees forgive an occasional lapse but a habit of not following through tells people that you can’t be trusted.
Research shows that when there is more trust in the workplace, employees are 23% more likely to offer ideas and solutions.
Lastly,
Be your employee’s advocate.
There will come a time when you either stand up for your team or throw them under the bus. You can be an advocate for them or allow them to flounder on their own. The outcome of standing up for your team is less important than the action itself. Your team knows that you can’t control every decision by corporate executives. But you will earn their respect and trust when they know that you will stand up for them, even when doing so is inconvenient.