How to Gain Trust at Work
Effective working relationships are built on mutual trust. Whether it's among employees or between managers and their subordinates, trust is necessary for honest teamwork and increased levels of productivity. Without trust, employee dissatisfaction tends to rise and turnover is a possible result. In addition, in companies where sales are the primary driving force of revenue, a positive opinion of the company and its leadership provides a strong motivating factor for employees to ensure sales are high and the company thrives. Keep some simple tips in mind when attempting to gain trust at work.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Communicate with your employees and coworkers. This involves detailing your vision for the organization and making expectations clear to others. Listen to the ideas of others and do so respectfully; even if an individual's ideas hold little interest for you, you will gain his trust by hearing him out. When correcting others in the workplace, do so in an encouraging way, describing ways the individual can improve and interspersing the criticism with compliments for skills the individual can draw upon to be successful at the company.
-
2
Act consistently. This is important for employees and managers, because they must have confidence in each other to build mutual trust. Refrain from changing objectives, policies and opinions so frequently that others begin to question your competence. Make your requirements as a manager clear and the same regardless of who is receiving instruction. If different working groups receive inconsistent instructions about the same project, they might suspect management has an ulterior motive and trust will suffer as a result.
-
-
3
Demonstrate mutual support for subordinates and coworkers. Managers must be willing to bear the brunt of a subordinate's error to gain the employee's trust. With trust in place, the manager is better able to work with the employee to improve his performance so errors do not occur in the future. Coworkers who work together on teams can build trust by taking responsibility for both the successes and failures of that team. With that sense of protection, teams work together more effectively in the long run.
-
4
Act with integrity. Trust is built upon an overall view of a person, which includes his day-to-day actions. Keeping promises in the workplace is part of acting with integrity. For example, if a manager promises to give an employee a day off once a project is completed, the manager should honor that promise. When coworkers make a commitment to cover each other's responsibilities in a job-sharing arrangement, it is crucial work is done consistently, on time and of a high quality; otherwise trust is lost and the arrangement will fail.
-
5
Focus on shared goals and include all members of the team. You gain the trust of employees by acknowledging their contribution and making them feel valued, regardless of their position in the hierarchy of the company. Ask all staff members for ideas and input on how the operations are running. Demonstrate that every staff member's perspective on the company is unique and each can provide valuable insight. In return, they will give their trust and peak productivity.
-
1
References
- Photo Credit Stockbyte/Stockbyte/Getty Images
