When Trust Is Shaken – What Does It Take To Regain And Maintain?

Trust is the cornerstone of effective relationships, great work, brilliant teams. When we have trust we have freedom to try new things, to give and receive feedback. Without trust it’s very hard to improve what we do and the way we do it. At Big Goals trust is the core of our business. Our clients trust us with their most precious asset – their people. And we ask them to trust us in the advice, support and direction we give. This mutual trust enables us to achieve great things together. I think we’ve always instinctively known that trust is key, but now we are empirically being told that it is. 

This year’s PWC CEO Survey highlighted that two-thirds of the Australian CEOs surveyed were concerned about a lack of trust in business (up from just over half last year). And it’s not just a perception in the minds of CEOs. The most recent Edelman Trust Barometer reveals that trust in all four key institutions — business, government, NGOs and media — has declined, a phenomenon not reported since Edelman began tracking trust in 2012.

The report stated: ‘Trust is now a threat to the bottom line’. It called for ‘brave, human leadership’ saying that: ‘Trust is, at its core, a leadership issue. There are few aspects of business where setting the ‘tone at the top’ matters more.’  Read the full CEO Survey here

In these times of unprecedented change, from technology to the shifting political landscape, it makes sense that it’s never been more important to grasp the importance of giving and getting trust in our roles as leaders, team players, members of the community. Where is trust on your agenda?

3 ways to put trust at the centre of your leadership

Consistency and communication are the two critical values that underpin trust.  Stephen Covey argues leaders can demonstrate these by:

1. Declaring intent – do what you say you will do (‘walk the talk’) and ensure people know what is expected of them. By stating what you will do you give people something concrete by which to measure your actions. The more you keep your word, the more the overall confidence in you increases.
2. Demonstrating respect – respect people for who they are and recognise their individual efforts. By personally recognising individual efforts you send a message about what’s important and what you, as a leader, value in the way your people work.
3. Delivering results – ‘doing the right thing, in the right way, for the right reasons, in the way that you said you would’.

When people trust you to take care of their needs – they will repay you by taking care of the needs of the business.

Read Stephen Covey and Douglas Conant’s article on the connection between employee trust and financial performance here.

If you or your team would like some help building trust please contact us at admin@biggoals.net.

 

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