The benefits of trust in the workplace – improved morale, collaboration, productivity, efficiency and more – have been well-documented, particularly since the rise of remote and hybrid working. The Reader’s Digest has added its voice to the subject, sharing tips on how to boost your team’s trust in you. For a quick summary of the key points, please see below.
- Show that you care
Take the time to find out how your team members are on both a personal and a professional level. Ask them how their weekend was and really listen to their answer. Remember the challenge they were facing this time last week, and enquire as to how/if it’s been resolved.
- Be human!
Opening up a little about your personal life, and sharing your work failures and difficulties with colleagues, goes a long way to making you human, particularly if you’re the manager. It’s difficult to trust someone who pretends to be perfect all the time. So admit your weaknesses and your worries, even if you decide to frame them as a learning opportunity. Such conversations go a long way to building trust.
- Strive for competency, compassion and shared values
The business world moves at a dizzying pace, and you need to work hard to ensure you keep your knowledge, skills and abilities up-to-date. Demonstrate that you share your organisation’s key values and that you buy into its culture. Be kind and compassionate. Between these three things, you’ll establish yourself as a trusted, helpful, credible figure in the workplace.
- Manage expectations
Ensure that your ideas about everyone’s goals and responsibilities match those of your colleagues. If you’re the manager setting objectives, be realistic and fair. Then trust each team member to get their part of the job done. Be explicit about what others can expect from you too, clearly communicating your role and responsibilities. Then do everything necessary to deliver your part of a project to brief and to the deadline, and observe your colleagues’ trust in you soar.
- Be a good role model
Employees of all levels of seniority should model the behaviours and values that they expect from others. This means genuinely listening to your colleagues’ ideas and concerns, focusing on the issues, not the personalities, and being respectful at all times. Fulfil your promises, keep your commitments and be discreet.
- Understand the role of emailing
Over-reliance on electronic communications and remote working can combine to make workers feel disconnected. We’re not always sure how hard our colleagues are working because we can’t see them, and this makes us less inclined to work hard ourselves. If you’re working remotely, you can do much to negate this by having regular video call updates. Visual cues are key for building trust, boosting team spirit and helping to keep everyone on track.
Do you have any other tips to add to the list? If you’d like to share your experiences on this topic or to find your next dream job, please get in touch. Our team at ABL Recruitment – the UK’s number one multilingual recruitment agency – is, as ever, here to help!
