Three Ways a Culture of Trust Drives Productivity

Trust: It’s a word everyone understands but few can accurately define or measure. It seems at once essential but fluffy, complex yet simple. According to the Human Capital Institute, trust can be defined as “the willingness to put oneself at risk based on another individual’s actions.” What does that mean in a business context? And how can trust be measured in economic terms like risk, speed, and cost? Research has shown that high-trust organizations have a total return to shareholders (stock price plus dividends) that is 286 percent higher than low-trust organizations. The top 25% of retail stores that rank high on trust achieve 7% above budget annual sales and 14% sales productivity gains. The impact of trust on productivity and efficiency is clear. Surprisingly, the simplicity of trust lies in the economics: as trust increases, so does speed. Speed goes up in high-trust cultures because costs and risks go down. In organizations where trust is low, costs and risks go up, resulting in a trust tax that slows down work across the organization. So it follows that as companies grow, trust often erodes because it becomes increasingly difficult to develop relationships, resulting in layers upon layers of bureaucracy that act as a poor substitute for trust. In fast-paced business environments where companies must evolve quickly to keep up with the speed of technology, building and maintaining trust at scale is more important than ever. The complexity of trust is that it can be difficult to build, yet easy to break. While trust can take a long time to build, it is also delicate enough to be destroyed through a single action or misconception. Yet the benefits of investing time into building trust can lead to exponential results: 1) Trust empowers employees to stay engaged. If employee disengagement is an epidemic that is reducing productivity across organizations in America, trust is the antidote. Research has shown that employees that feel more connected will invest more of themselves in their work. High trust levels yields a greater sense of self responsibility, greater interpersonal insight, and a greater sense of alignment in striving toward common goals. Fear is often abused by management and has been shown to result in negative workplace culture that reduces productivity. When people don’t trust their leaders, they relationship becomes transactional because employees are forced to wonder, “If the organization does not do right by me, why should I do right by them?” 2) Trust reduces bureaucracy and increases speed. Because high-trust cultures remove fear, workers at every level can be honest about problems they are encountering without fear of backlash from middle management or distrust from upper management, allowing teams to do what’s right as quickly as necessary. High trust cultures remove five key relationship pitfalls: criticizing, complaining, comparing, contending, and cynicism. In a study analyzing Sarbanes-Oxley, results were staggering: the costs of implementing Section 404 were $35 billion-exceeding the original SEC estimate by 28 times. Compliance regulations are a prime example of the dangerous relationship between low trust, low speed and high cost. 3) Trust increases quality collaboration. Honesty and trust create a positive feedback loop that cultivate a culture of openness that improves collaboration within teams. In a study by Franklin-Covey, better execution and stronger collaboration were all byproducts of high-trust cultures. Achieving high-quality collaboration relies on having shared and common goals, which are built on an eagerness to share truthful information--a quality that stems from trust. The more easily and quickly a team can provide honest feedback to each other the greater the trust and efficiency of the collaboration. Because trust is the foundation of a healthy and productive work culture, investing in creating trust within an organization will lead to big dividends--especially at scale for growth organizations.

How Honest Leaders Undermine their Leadership No Trust = No Leadership

You can coerce without trust but positive influence thrives on the foundation of trust. Losing influence is easy because losing trust is incredibly easy. Trust and respect:  It takes more than honesty to preserve trust; you must show respect. People stop trusting you when you disrespect them, even when you’re honest.  Danger of disrespect:  When you lose trust by making people feel disrespected, people give themselves permission to question your character and motives. Honesty is not the issue.  You can be honest and lose trust. Not only do they judge your character, they feel justified, even compelled, to “warn” others about you. You can’t be trusted.  Protecting trust:  People trust you when they feel respected by you. When they feel disrespected, however, they are disrespected. Perception is reality. 10 Behaviors that help people feel disrespected  1. Rushed exchanges. You don’t have time for them. 2. Unilateral decisions. Lack of participation in decisions that directly impact them. 3. Poor listening. They don’t feel understood. 4. Rudeness. 5. Unsolicited advice. 6. Emphasizing failure as a tool to motivate forward momentum. 7. Favoritism. 8. Cutting them off when they’re speaking. 9. Rescheduling appointments. 10. Watching your computer while talking. 10 ways to show respect:  1. The opposites of the list above. 2. Invite feedback. 3. Gently, clearly and firmly tell it like it is, even when they disagree. 4. Appreciate their skills and talents. 5. Give opportunities. 6. Admire their contribution and accomplishments. 7. Public acknowledgement. 8. Use common courtesies like "please" and "thank you." 9. Acknowledge their challenges and struggles. 10. Hold phone calls and other communications while they’re speaking. The challenging truth:  They won’t keep trusting you if you don’t convince them they’re respected. To your greater success, Peter Mclees, Principal P. S. Smart Development Inc. has an exceptional track record helping companies create a strong culture, leadership bench strength and the teamwork necessary for growth. Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity. http://smartdevelopmentinc.com/