When you hear the word “Trust,” you might experience a wide variety of emotional and physical reactions. Some might be very positive, while others might cause negative sensations that you would rather dismiss quickly. Trust is one of those elements in business that leaders want to believe exists in their organization but are sometimes too nervous to test the waters to determine just what the team believes actually exists. If they dive in and confirm that trust amongst team members is solid, then a big sigh of relief. On the other hand, when it comes back not so great, the work needs to build trust and identify what is breaking it down. As trust is sometimes elusive, leaders tiptoe around the matter because you can’t address it only part way. You can’t say it is good enough. What defines good enough for the leader vs. for each team member?
Trust in the workplace is linked to the organization’s Core Purpose, Core Values, and governing principles, which define and articulate the culture. Leaders are challenged to look into the trust arena because it can take time away from what most people would indicate are the main reasons for the business. In simpler terms, it is what the organization does, produces, delivers, etc. Oddly enough, trust is at the core of all of these items. When trust is out of balance, the rest of the results are likely spinning a bit out of balance.
Leaders can tend to avoid this magical ingredient because it is hard to measure and not always consistent. Many variables can influence an individual’s trust in fellow workers, leadership, vendors, customers, etc. A sour transaction with one touchpoint can have a trickle-down effect on the trust of others when it may not have anything to do with other situations. Unfortunately, when trust is left unchecked or unresolved, it costs the organization significantly—dollars to the bottom line, employee turnover, and negative customer reviews, to name a few.
Fortunately, at JKL Associates, we have a model and tool kit that allows for the assessment of trust in an organization. This is part of peering into the level of engagement that exists within an organization, business unit, etc. By capturing baseline data points and identifying the key elements within the organization’s culture, leadership can engage team members in identified areas of opportunity rather than taking a broader approach of tossing trust blankets in every direction, hoping they will land and take hold. The key part of the approach is that once a strategic deployment of engagement has taken place, the system provides for reassessment on a defined cycle to gather progress insights and make real-time adjustments to build a trust-based culture.
Now, we can identify and turn the “Trust” magic into individual and organizational growth. This, in turn, leads to a robust culture and significantly better performance by all engaged business members. Teams and their members live inside trust centers, and the overall business thrives in the marketplace.
This week, leaders, you need to have a solid understanding of your organization’s actual level of trust. Most leaders have strong suspicions but elect not to step into that growth zone, hoping trust will figure itself out. Bottom-line dollars continue to erode as leaders wait for trust to resolve itself.
Interested in putting in place a metric-based system to identify key engagement factors to improve the outcomes at your business? Give JKL Associates a call to discuss how such an assessment approach can bring such a challenging issue to a new light. Talk to a Promise Guide at FL (407-984-7246 or MI (313) 527-7945
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