Have that handshake mean something — trust is essential to a successful workplace.
In our co-workers we trust?
Guidelines for trust
For managers — caretakers of the office trust level — Nawoj offers guidelines for keeping co-workers on good terms. “Talk to your employees about how they can maintain trust better,” she offers. “Do a session each year to talk about it.” Secondly, promote good folks. “Those people who are capable of having trustworthy relationships,” she says.
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Your integrity
Managers need be the paragons of integrity at the organizations they lead — which means no backbiting, gossip mongering or downplaying employees’ efforts.
For career coaches, a mentality of trust between co-workers can do more for a business’s efficiency than all the software on the company grid or snacks in the company fridge combined.
Two co-workers who can count on each other can outdo a handful of go-it-alones who can’t, experts say.
“Trust is definitely essential to a successful workplace,” says CareerBuilder.com career adviser Allison Nawoj. “It means employees will go that extra mile and do something outside of their comfort level.”
Conversely, Nawoj warns that “it’s difficult to be that 110 percent employee if you feel that there is mistrust at an organization.”
Shay McConnon, co-author of “Conflict Management in the Workplace,” views institutional mistrust as the No. 1 problem of the modern workforce.
“The greatest source of inefficiency for most organizations is conflict and mistrust in working relationships,” he says. “The process to build trust is to actively seek out others’ needs and make sure they’re being met.”
Distrust, McConnon notes, can be a hard subject to broach. So focus on the tone, body language and quiet cues of co-workers. “A moan, a criticism, these are expressions of unmet needs,” McConnon says.
Plus, be willing to volunteer the truth — even when it may cost you praise.
“Give credit where credit is due,” career consultant Lynn Berger says. “Tell people the facts.”
