Trust is what serves as the backbone of a business, acting as a social glue which meshes all the different components of an organisation together. Trust plays a vital role in driving forward employee engagement and motivation, organisations who demonstrate and communicate the faith they have in their employees are able to find themselves rewarded in the long run in terms of productivity and profitability.
With so many businesses finding themselves on a knife edge after a period of prolonged disruption, their focus will understandably be on driving forward their business recovery plans and safeguarding their future. Organisations can ill afford to find themselves bogged down by the internal conflicts and derailing attitudes encouraged by a workplace culture lacking in trust.
Workplaces where partners have clear oversight and understanding of each individual’s workload, schedule or deadlines will find it far easier to place inherent trust within their colleagues. Teams who trust each other will be better placed to drive forward their key responsibilities, rather than focusing their energy checking up on their colleagues.Trust also has close links to employee wellbeing and motivation, with organisations who are able to demonstrate a degree of trust in their people will inevitably find them more engaged and satisfied within their workplace.
We believe that moving forward, engendering a sense of trust within organisations, will very likely be the make or break point which determines the success of a business moving forward. We thought it would be a good idea to take a look at our top 5 reasons why building trust within your business today has never been more important.
- Engagement- As companies embrace the new working world, one of the most important elements which businesses will be looking to embed is a strong sense of engagement from their people. The issue of how to remain connected with and continuously empowering and motivating an increasingly widespread workforce, is understandably being seen as a major roadblock to growth and recovery.
Research by the Harvard Business Review highlights the close connection between trust and engagement, with 76% of people surveyed stating that they felt engagement within their business was higher as a result of high levels of organisational trust.
The level of trust in your workplace clearly serves as a weather vane for motivation and engagement. A staggering 90% of respondents to a Microsoft survey felt a sense of inclusion within their organisation, with this sense of close knitted camaraderie being reflected in output, with a further 77% claiming that their productivity levels never dropped over the course of a year between June 2020-2021.
For businesses who are placing their focus squarely on driving their future productivity and profitability, ensuring that their people remain engaged and motivated will undoubtedly be at the top of their list of priorities. Organisations who are able to demonstrate a clear culture of trust within their workforce are likely to be rewarded with greater levels of output.
- Communication- With the shape of the new working culture finding teams increasingly widespread and disparate, one of the major focus businesses will undoubtedly be the question of how to maintain clear lines of communication between people who are dividing their time between home and the office space.
Between teams it is vitally important to keep constant lines of communication open in order to create a sense of continuity between office based and remote workers. Don’t be afraid to over communicate as breakdowns in chains of communication are one of the most common elements in eroding trust. Consider using the right tool for the job in terms of communication- Are emails bouncing? Then consider picking up the phone. Encourage teams to drive conversations around which platform of communication will be best for them in order to guarantee consistency.
Having clear lines of communication also means that any potential delays to deadlines can be flagged amongst a team ahead of time, allowing for colleagues to pivot workloads and move resources in order to help. This can reduce the impact of missed deadlines and hopefully head off the potential for blame to be thrown around teams.
- Reduce Stress- It is worth considering the way in which trust also feeds directly into employee stress levels with 74% of people working in an organisation with a well embedded culture of trust, feeling less stressed than many of their contemporaries. Any workplace which is able to demonstrate a kinder, less stressful working environment will inevitably see this reflected in lower instances of stress related sick leave.
One of the greatest ways businesses can look to mitigate the impact of stress upon their people is to foster an open, nurturing environment. With the workforce looking to become increasingly more widespread as hybrid working models become more embedded into the fabric of working culture, teams will need to demonstrate the ability to trust in their colleagues to attain their goals and hit deadlines, regardless of where they are working from.
Furthermore, a culture of trust is an asset in helping to support employees who are experiencing stress either related to work or external factors. A trusting environment means that employees are far more likely to open up about concerns as they understand that any stress experienced by them is unlikely to be leveraged against them either by colleagues or their employer. An open and honest policy of communicating difficulties means that HR teams are far better equipped in order to drive conversation around supporting the employee.
Without a sufficiently well embedded culture of trust present, organisations will find their employees navigating a potential minefield of hearsay, with negative assertions being made about colleagues, particularly those who choose to work in a remote setting. A culture of trust is one of the greatest assets in ensuring that your people remain aligned with your goals, regardless of where they choose to work from.
- Greater decision making- It is still a period of great change for many organisations, with more than a few businesses still finding themselves strategizing and formulating wider policy which will determine both the makeup and direction of their organisation moving forward. With such sweeping changes imminent for many, It is obvious that an element of trust will be crucial in helping to drive forward key decision making processes.
In organisations where trust is organically built into their makeup, every level of the businesses will have a degree of confidence in the decision maker, be they one person or a collective entity. A culture of trust is also a reflection of the competency and commitment of these bodies, as they will have been able to demonstrate their effectiveness in the past. This will mean fewer log jams when it comes to enacting policies of change and lessens the needs for cross checks.
A well embedded culture of trust also offers organisations the opportunity to make their management structure more granular in nature, with the expertise and experience of managers and team leaders being leveraged in their respective disciplines, without the need for the involvement of exec level talent. This not only demonstrates a significant degree of trust in employees but also streamlines the overall decision making process.
- Company Culture and brand perception- One of greatest challenges facing organisations right now is the question of how to retain talent as well as placing themselves as an attractive prospect for new hires. With increasing instances of employees switching job roles post-pandemic, organisations will find themselves thrust into an extremely competitive job market, with potentially extremely slender margins by which to distinguish themselves from their competitors.
Furthermore, a consequence of a prolonged period of disruption is that many employees have begun to assess their place of work with a keener eye, judging their employers by more than just the traditional, financially led motivations and placing a greater emphasis on wellbeing and overall company culture.
A culture of trust natural filters through all levels of an organisation, leading to increased levels of engagement and motivation amongst all workers. These qualities are very definitely perceivable for outsiders to an organisation and businesses who are looking to secure the top talent for a role could find themselves distinguished above their competitors, purely due to fostering an open and trusting work environment.
What now?
At Advanced, we believe in the power of technology to help you achieve more. We understand that the future of HR is going to place a focus squarely on the “Human” element, which is why our range of Human Capital Management solutions are designed specifically to give you the oversight you need to understand the challenges facing your people and to help you craft policy and procedure to meet their needs.
It is clear that businesses who are able to embed and promote a culture of trust, will find themselves transformed for the better, with marked increases in productivity, engagement and employee wellbeing. Furthermore, as teams become increasingly more widespread, businesses need to act now in order to ensure a sense of continuity and engagement for all employees, regardless of where they work from. Our Cloud HR solution has been built to help empower your people teams and enable them to drive forward conversations and policy designed to support your employees.
The future success of your business may very well depend on how effectively you are able to foster a culture of trust and open honesty within your organisation. If you’d like to find out more about how Advanced can help engender trust within your workforce, get in touch with one of our friendly team members today.