Turn Up The Trust

There is convincing research demonstrating the link between trust and organisational performance. Companies that Turn Up The Trust earn higher loyalty, innovation and engagement.

These are just a few of the benefits associated with a trustworthy organisation. But creating a culture of trust is not an easy task, particularly in large-scale organisations. It is further complicated by the fact that there are different types of trust in the workplace.

3 types of workplace trust

Details of these types are shared in a Harvard Business Review article, entitled, The Enemies of Trust by Robert M Galford and Anne Seibold Drapeau. According to the duo, the first type of trust is “strategic trust” – essentially, the trust employees have in an organisation’s leaders and their ability to make sound decisions for the business and its stakeholders.

The second type is what Galford and Drapeau call, “personal trust”. It refers to the trust between employees and their managers, and centres around key behaviours, such as how much support, mentorship, recognition and appreciation managers provide.

The final type of trust, as identified by Galford and Drapeau, is “organisational trust”, which refers to the trust employees have in the organisation as a whole; in its purpose, people and processes.

Yet, as much as there are different kinds of trust in the workplace, there is something that connects them all: the neurochemical, oxytocin, sometimes referred to as ‘the trust hormone’.

Trust, it turns out, is not an emotion but rather a state of mind, and the foundation for trusting people lies in the brain’s chemical transmission of oxytocin.

The neuroscience behind trust

In another article written for Harvard Business Review by neuroeconomist, Paul J. Zak entitled, The Neuroscience of Trust, we learn more about the effects of oxytocin on workplace behaviour. Zak’s research is groundbreaking in several ways. For one, it reveals that trust is reciprocal. When we trust others at work, they behave in more trustworthy ways.

For another, Zak’s research points to the powerful – and causal – connection between recognition and appreciation, and trust.

It is important not to confuse recognition and appreciation or think of them as interchangeable. They are two distinct constructs. Recognition is about providing positive feedback based on workplace performance. In this sense, recognition is conditional. An employee must have said or done something to serve the interests of the organisation, either in living its values or in achieving its goals.

This is quite unlike appreciation, which is not bound either to achievement or accomplishment. Appreciation is about acknowledging an employee’s value, in and for themselves. It’s about seeing their human worth, and celebrating it.

Both recognition and appreciation have a significant effect on trust. So, it’s not surprising that both are important in creating and cultivating trust at work. Here are some simple ways to implant and sustain trust.

5 steps to turn up the trust in your organisation

1. Recognise the little things

It’s called micro recognition and its purpose is to draw people’s attention to the small, everyday actions, practices and behaviours that drive organisational performance. bountiXP is an employee recognition and engagement platform that leverages these smaller, spontaneous events for maximum effect.

2. Appreciate, personally and authentically

Sure, bonus performance pay will motivate people initially, but research shows that using money as a motivator has diminishing returns. What people remember – and cherish – are the moments when their peers and leaders appreciate them for who they are. To be memorable, these trust-instilled moments of appreciation need to be personal and meaningful.

3. Enable autonomy

Remember the reciprocal nature of trust? When we place our trust in people, they become more trusting towards us. A great way to demonstrate trust is to enable people to have a say in, and to help set the conditions for, working at their best. Agree on the parameters of accountability, while giving people the freedom to choose how they want to work. In a shared commitment steeped in trust, higher productivity, innovation and engagement will follow.

4. Share resources

A strong indicator of a low-trust organisation is resource hoarding, which includes withholding information. A quick win for cultivating a culture of trust is to make resources easily available and accessible to employees, including informational resources. Invite employees to share knowledge informally via group chats. Better still, look to invest in a good, cloud-based collaboration tool. We love Slack.

5. Be more transparent

Internal communication should flow up, down and across an organisation. Opening up the organisation to dialogue on multiple levels makes for a more inclusive and equitable culture. With access to communication channels through which they can express their thoughts, opinions and ideas, employees come to trust the organisation and its leaders.

Building a culture of trust does not happen overnight. In low-trust organisations, it requires deep-rooted, fundamental change. But organisations are made of people. And people can change for the better. It’s what makes us human.