How to influence a high-trust culture in your organization?
Summary A high-trust organizational culture can increase employee engagement, increase productivity, reduce stress, and also facilitate employee alignment with organizational values. With small acts of transparency, responsibility, and consistency, a leader can positively influence stakeholders. With increasing social distance, it is going to be more essential for leaders to build trust to maintain deep relationships.
A businessman once boarded a long flight going through a storm. The signs of distress kept getting more and more ominous over time: the PA system announcing that meal services are suspended and people have to return to their seats, the attendants telling people to prepare themselves for major turbulence and then the plane itself being tossed around in the storm. Through all of this, people reacted with fear and anxiety in their own ways, while our protagonist spotted a little girl reading her book through all this chaos without blinking an eye. When they finally deboarded, he asked her how she managed to not get scared and calmly keep reading her book. Her response was that her father was flying the plane, and she trusted him to make them reach home safely.
What role does “trust” play in leadership? Not many leaders find it easy to foster a culture of high performance, trust, and belonging. Read ahead to find out how to cultivate trust in a workplace.
How does just a single variable like trust predict so many indicators of a healthy organization? While talent and skill development provides you with the tools for success, it is only through care and compassion that these energies can be channelled effectively while working with fellow humans. Trust is what makes the bond between team members stay strong through crises and changes,1 and makes employees personally invested in the status and goals of their teams.
Here are three ways to induce trust in your organization, to get people comfortable in a warm culture where they know everyone looks out for each other?
Transparency in Action
Once you know that you want to trust and encourage trust, it is important for you to lead with honesty and transparency. Trust can be assessed as high when leaders share2 doubt, ambivalence and uncertainties about situations. This reflects that you aren’t running your own private show and actually do have the best intentions for your employees at heart. Through sharing this information, you expose the good intentions behind your behaviour and inculcate trust.
Responsibility for Each Other
Investment in Wellbeing
Impact on Leadership
3 Immediately Applicable Action Steps
- Articulate reasons to be transparent while making decisions or giving feedback.
- Practice a chain of admiration in your teams by making each team member mention another and list some qualities they find valuable.
- Ask questions beyond work and actively invest in the personal life and growth of your employee.
References
- Andersson, L. M., & Pearson, C. M. (1999). Tit for Tat? The Spiraling Effect of Incivility in the Workplace. Academy of Management Review, 24(3), 452–471. https://doi.org/10.5465/
amr.1999.2202131 - Gourguechon, P. (2018, February 25). How To Assess An Essential Leadership Capacity: Trusting Others And Inspiring Trust. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/
prudygourguechon/2018/02/25/
how-to-assess-an-essential-leadership-capacity-trusting-others-and-inspiring-trust/?sh=76ea073d34ff
Authored by Coach Vikram
Vikram is an Executive Presence Coach who supports CXOs and senior leaders to make an impact, influence, and lead with ease. He advises C-level leaders and teams to strengthen business performance through their executive presence and star leadership.
Vikram works closely with Boards and senior leaders to align leadership needs with strategy. His forte is his ability to develop trusted partnerships with senior leaders at some of the most recognized companies in the world. Vikram coaches senior leaders to draw upon their best selves, while growing their business and their leadership capabilities.
Vikram and his team have developed a groundbreaking model of executive presence and an Executive Presence Index (EPI) Assessment, the first frequency based, scientifically validated tool to measure executive presence.
Connect with him if you want practical and immediately applicable strategies to accelerate results, develop your people, and influence others to make a positive difference in your organization.
