Loss of Employee's Trust can Undermine any Workplace

Donna Nebenzahl, Toronto Star, November 27, 2010

The employee had worked hard to come up with a new idea for a product line.

So imagine her surprise and dismay when her immediate supervisors told her that they liked the idea but they would be taking it to the next step, effectively cutting her out of the process. Then, when she complained to their boss, he gave her a pat on the back and told her to let it go.

She lost courage and enthusiasm. but what she really lost was trust in the people she worked for.

Dennis and Michelle Reina know all about trust. Founders of the Reina Trust Institute based in Stowe, Vt., the couple have recently published their second book on the subject Rebuilding Trust in the Workplace (Berrett-Koehler).

Trust is a serious matter, they believe, because it leaves people vulnerable to the most destructive force in any workplace: apathy. Employees who have lost trust, for whatever reason, are subject to a host of troubling behaviours, including being less engaged and more skeptical, resisting assignments, having feelings of isolation at work, interpersonal conflict and absenteeism.

The couple, who have spent 20 years exploring the problem and consulting with major international companies, have new research that shows 90 percent of employees feel the effects of eroded trust in the workplace on a daily basis.

And a breach of trust doesn't have to be something major, like a manager being accused of a crime. They believe it's the continual breaches of trust employees encounter daily that whittle away at their self-esteem and motivation.

Any one of us could be guilty of these, they wrote recently. The trick is to view our own behaviour and make adjustments before we've lost the trust of our colleagues.

From the Reinas, here are five breaches of trust that you probably didn't even recognize you may have been guilty of.

Failing to acknowledge a colleague's efforts. This happens when we're in a hurry, and so we foget to say "good job" or even the most basic "thanks". While this might seem trivial, the Reinas argue that this lack of courtesy is "one of the most subtle and yet insidious betrayals people experience at work". Not being recognized hurts at a deep level, and eventually adds up to real resentments.

Missing a deadline or two. To those who believe that missing a deadline is no big deal, the Reinas would like to set you straight. "Each time you don't deliver, you are making an implicit assumption that others are available to work around your schedule", they write. So what you've ended up doing is betraying other's trust, their dependence on you, and each time you do so, you're reinforcing the perception that you think you're more important than they are.

Arriving late for meetings.  Another one of the tardiness-based trust destroyers, this behaviour implies that you don't care if you waste your colleagues's time by keeping them waiting - or that you think your time and job mean more than theirs. "They end up feeling disrespected, insulted and devalued. Over time, these feelings define your relationship, and trust begins to erode."

Micromanaging. You might be the guy attending to details and paying attention to who is actually whittling away at your employee's trust because they're convinced that you don't believe that they're capable of getting the job done. "You may think you're being thorough, but those you manage feel that you are watching and just waiting for them to mess up," the Reinas write. "And if you don't trust them, why should they trust you?"

Discourteous, insensitive or rude behaviour. An employer who is prone to outbursts or rudeness, even if he's nice as pie the rest of the time, is damaging trust. Your excuse might be that's "how you are" and it "doesn't mean anything", but when people don't know what to expect, they're not going to trust you.