If Your Trust at Work Is Damaged, These Actions Will Help You Regain Trust
Work trust, once destroyed, is difficult to regain. Trust in your organization and in your coworkers, is fundamental to your happiness and success at work. This is because trust is the cornerstone of the work culture of a successful company. In a work culture that encourages transparent communication, thoughtful risk, experimentation, employee motivation, employee engagement, goal achievement, and employee empowerment - all hallmarks of effective organizations - work trust is paramount. Without it, these and other desired work behaviors won't occur.
I recently had the opportunity to review an article on the top five ways to destroy trust at work. These are certainly not the only ways to destroy trust; organizations destroy trust daily at work in hundreds of small ways. If you notice how these five trust busters play out at work, you'll be prepared to institute and participate in these efforts to rebuild and regain trust, once trust is lost at work. You can rebuild trust at work by taking these positive actions.
Apologize for Lying
If trust at work is damaged because you lied, you will need to admit you lied and apologize with honest, sincere, and unmistakable humility. No other solution will work to rebuild trust at work. This is one of the most difficult methods I suggest to regain trust at work.
If you want to share the reason why you lied, you can, but you risk sounding as if you are making excuses for your lie. There really is no good reason why people lie at work.
So, most of the time, recognize that you are making excuses or helping yourself feel better by justifying your behavior. Neither are conducive to rebuilding trust you damaged.
The goal of your apology is to repair the most egregious form of trust destruction imaginable: an out and out lie. Your coworker almost always knows or will find out that you lied. A smart coworker will not trust you again.
To rebuild trust, both the admission of guilt and the apology are necessary. Even if these are offered sincerely, your coworker will be wary for a while. And who can blame them? Your lie undermines the most precious of unspoken workplace contracts.
Apologize for Lying by Omission
Yes, telling part of the truth is a lie. Leaving out details or part of the story will not win points with any coworker. They won’t trust that you are telling them the whole story and will anticipate being blindsided in the future by the details you omit.
And, yes, they will see right through your later attempts to equivocate or explain your words or the missing portions of the story.
Coworkers see right through excuses such as "forgot to mention", "didn’t know", and "didn’t think you needed to know." They recognize your efforts to extricate yourself from a lie of omission for what they are: more lies and excuses.
Want to know how to rebuild trust at work after a lie of omission? See number one above. Admit you lied and apologize. Nothing else will make amends and begin the process of rebuilding trust.
Note Your Efforts and Failures to Walk Your Talk
On occasion, you will fail to “walk your talk”. We all do. After all, we are human not machinery. Knowing the impact of your actions on the organization's operation, especially if you are an executive, requires you to note your failure.
Perhaps you received feedback from employees or a fellow executive that your actions don't match the organization's identified values or vision. Perhaps you notice the incongruence with the specified desired actions on your own.
However you receive the message, if your actions are different than the organization’s expectations, you must note the discrepancy publicly. An apology is nice, but a statement about how you will change your actions is most important.
Make it okay with your coworkers and fellow executives to bring any discrepancy to your attention in the future. Your sincere statement about how you will change your behavior followed by visible efforts to change will demonstrate your commitment to adopting the desired behavior.
You can also help "walk the talk" by noting to coworkers when you are making the effort to work on your conduct. They may not notice and the gentle reminder will reinforce your commitment, in their eyes, to your pledge to "walk your talk."
Make Up for Failing to Do What You Say You Will Do
It's easy to miss projections and goals. You must take into account so many factors, when organization performance is predicted, that missing your target, over-expanding, or over-promising rewards can severely injure trust.
A long-term client almost declared bankruptcy. This was proceeded by a round of goal setting that left employees shaking their heads; the targets were so far out that no one could visualize achieving them. Additionally, the owner had promised that the opportunity was so special, that this time next year, "We'll all be driving around in red sports cars."
Right, said the employees. And right they were, as the projected opportunities failed to materialize. Threatened with the loss of their livelihood, the employees distrusted everything management did or said. We set up a long-term plan to gradually regain trust.
The owner set a new, reachable goal at the weekly meeting. Each week, the goal was achieved; the owner noted to staff that the goal was achieved and thanked them for their contribution. Gradually, as more realistic goals were met, the staff came to trust their leadership again.
The same type of effort will also work at the department level, but your best bet is to avoid involving yourself or your organization in over-promising, over-projecting, or using a crystal ball.
Summary Thoughts About Rebuilding Trust at Work
These tips and tools for rebuilding trust at work will take you a long way toward building the trusting workplace you desire. They provide trust-building solutions for the top five ways in which trust is destroyed, plus more.
It's not just desire for trust at work as a goal in and of itself, a workplace in which employees experience trust is a successful workplace. Employees and customers are happier because the underlying tension that afflicts organizations without trust is missing.
Employees are able to act with candor and without hesitation. Rehearsing and word-smithing are unnecessary as employees communicate without fear of reprisal. Thoughts are not withheld or monitored based on who is present to hear them.
Sherri Elliott-Yeary, the Generational Guru and best selling author of Ties to Tattoos, Turning Generational Differences into a Competitive Advantage, is a speaker, coach and trainer in the area of Human Resources and Talent Management. Sherri specializes in helping employers maximize their human capital by collaborating across the generational gap. Her expertise in human capital management and organization includes: workforce planning, company culture, training, assessments, HRIS implementation, regulatory compliance, strategic alignment, payroll, compensation and benefit programs. Learn more at generationalguru.com.