Trust is the bedrock of every type of interpersonal relationship, from married couples and best friends through sports teams and professional collaboration. But the last of these examples is different from the others, as trust has to permeate between people with differing levels of seniority and responsibility, rather than between equals.
But despite the importance of trust in the workplace, many employees around the world don’t feel that they can trust their managers or senior leadership team. A Gallup survey in September 2022 found that only 21% of employees strongly agree that they trust their leaders. This compromises efficiency, productivity, communication, and the ability for everyone within an organisation to pull in the same direction.
But if you’re a leader where you work, you can’t address any trust issues before you can identify them in the first place.
Why is leadership trust so important?
Trust is important because it removes any doubt or uncertainty that employees may have about the people they work with. If that doubt is there, they won’t feel as free as they should be to collaborate with their co-workers and managers, have open and honest conversations, or have faith in the future direction of the business. This is especially the case in a changing world of work, where many people are working from home and communicating digitally, meaning they lose the nuance and body language of face-to-face conversation.
Trust is a two-way street between leaders and employees. Leaders need to demonstrate that they believe their employees can do their jobs to a high standard, just as much as employees need to feel that their leaders are making the right decisions. With this working as it should both ways, employees will feel empowered and inspired to strive towards becoming a purpose-driven leader themselves.
How to spot leadership trust problems
There are several different warning signs that may indicate that you have some leadership trust issues within your organisation. This is by no means an exhaustive list, and some of them may be more relevant to you than others, but they collectively represent the biggest symptoms:
- Lack of communication: when people don’t communicate, they can’t share ideas and innovate, or even talk to each other about vital day-to-day tasks. This can lead to silos and cliques forming, with rogue hierarchies and situations where some employees feel emasculated compared to others
- Lack of accountability: if leaders don’t take responsibility for their actions, or those of their team, it becomes very easy for a blame culture to emerge where people are constantly looking for scapegoats
- Low morale: this isn’t always caused by toxicity in the office environment – it can also be generated by major changes that impact employees negatively, such as bad business results or a refusal to allow employees to work remotely. If employees don’t feel that their leaders are supporting their wellbeing in and out of work, morale will suffer
- Negative culture: if leaders tend to stick to policies and formal communications rather than being open and accessible with employees, it can naturally put people on the defensive and promote greater conflict
- High staff turnover: all of the issues mentioned above can lead to difficulties in retaining and attracting talented staff, so it can be considered a knock-on symptom of poor trust. If an employee doesn’t feel their employer trusts them, then they’ll go and work for an employer who will
- Lack of results: if collective decisions on changes within a business are difficult to reach – whether they’re directly related to trust or not – then little progress can be made in making improvements
Starting the journey towards better leadership trust
Many of the organisations that enjoy good levels of trust between leaders and employees have faced the above issues head on. They have built openness, directness and transparency into their operations at every level, which helps employees buy into a positive, trusted culture. Ultimately everyone feels they can talk frankly with everyone else, and take ownership of mistakes without being unfairly treated as a result.
These businesses tend to be more creative, get better results, enjoy improved productivity, and have employees who are happier, more motivated and more loyal. And there’s no reason why your business or organisation can’t achieve the same positive state.
To find out how to quantify your levels of leadership trust and make the right changes in the right places, read our free guide on the Leadership Trust Index here.
Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out the rest of this website.
Dr John Blakey is the author of ‘The Trusted Executive’ (book) and Founder of The Trusted Executive. Read John Blakey’s Forbes executive profile.
