EXECUTIVE UPDATE MAGAZINE
by Merianne Liteman and Jeffrey Liteman

Building Trust

Question: I’m the new head of my company’s sales department. I’ve been asking the staff I supervise to explain how things really work around here, but the response is nearly always vague. I sense they aren’t being candid with me. What’s going on? And what can I do about it?

Chances are your staff doesn’t trust you. This may have nothing to do with you personally; a new manager often has to prove trustworthy. The staff may simply be reacting cautiously to the new boss.

If so, you can build trust by modeling it. Show trust in your staff, allow for mistakes, acknowledge your own errors and things you don’t know, and keep asking for advice. Building trust will require some risk-taking and self-disclosure.

Some organizations actually foster a culture of mistrust. Maybe people who’ve spoken out in the past have been punished for their honesty. Maybe a climate of internal competition has made people reluctant to share information. Or maybe your predecessor or someone higher in the chain of command played people against each other.

Whatever the cause, there is much you can do to build trust in your department. First, don’t hide things from your staff. Let them know what you know and don’t know. Nothing undoes trust like an atmosphere of secrets.

When employees don’t have accurate information they tend to fill in the gaps with rumors. We saw this play out when we were interviewing an organization’s staff prior to a retreat. We kept hearing that it was dangerous to speak out in that organization. Their proof of this was that an outspoken employee was fired for his candor. Even new employees who didn’t work at the organization when this incident took place told us this story and had taken its cautions to heart.

When we raised this with the CEO, we learned that the employee had been fired for mishandling funds, not for being outspoken, but the organization hadn’t wanted to make that information public. All the staff knew was that the employee was outspoken and was fired, and drew the wrong conclusions. Things loosened up considerably when the CEO disclosed the truth at the staff retreat.

Another important way to build trust is to clarify your mutual expectations with your staff. Let your staff know what you want and ask them what they need from you to get their work done. Then show trust in their ability by allowing them the freedom to decide how they will do their work.

Trust is more than just believing that what someone says is true; sincerity is only one aspect of trust. Of course your staff needs to learn that you mean what you say. If you’re in a situation where your colleagues aren’t willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, you have to build a track record. But that’s not enough.

A second essential aspect of trust is faith in your ability. You have to prove yourself capable of doing what you say you want to do. If you’re new to the organization, your staff hasn’t yet seen what you can achieve. Even if they believe you when you say you want to accomplish something, they may be unsure of your ability to pull it off.

A third aspect of trust is confidence in your reliability. You have to show that you consistently do what you say you’ll do. Even if the staff trusts your sincerity and ability, you still have to follow through and act. It will take some shared history and positive experiences to develop this aspect of trust. And even if you try and fail, the willingness to self-disclose, acknowledge your own mistakes, and ask questions of others about what you might have done differently will contribute to an environment of trust.

Continue to encourage employees — without pressuring them — to tell you how they think things could be improved, but be prepared to hear things you might not be comfortable with. Many organizations avoid overt conflict by ignoring contentious issues. Employees who take a risk by surfacing buried problems are helping the organization, and you should look for ways to acknowledge their candor and ask for their help in addressing issues.

Following up is critical. If your staff thinks you really listen to them and that what they tell you makes a difference, they’ll start sharing more with you. If they think you’re just going through the motions, they’ll save their breath.

Return to Top | Return to Previous Page | Return to Home