Last Updated on September 2, 2024
Trust is defined as a position of obligation, and that couldn’t be more important in a business setting in where you have an obligation to your employees and your coworkers. When you have a position in which you are in charge of a team, company or have to make important business decisions, trust is vital to your success.
Your employees will not take you seriously, respect you or give you the results you’re looking for when they do not trust you. The good news is that there are ways you can build the trust your employees have for you. I’ve found that one of the best ways to build trust is having a great level of honesty with your workers.
This applies to all trust-building strategies in business. Since many are principles that you can use in the workplace also work in your personal life, you should already have a basic understanding of how you’re going to apply them to your workplace.
The first and most basic thing that you can do to build trust with your employees is to take time to understand their needs and create stronger relationships with them. You should be more honest about your life, and expect your employees and team to do the same. Doing this will help you and your employees to be on the same page. You don’t have to focus on work related discussions. Ask them about what motivates them, their dreams, goals in life, favorite food, favorite movies, their family, hobbies, etc.
I was always told that the best way to make friends is to find a common ground. This can be related directly to trust with your employees. Make sure that everyone is on the same page in regards to your goals, this will allow you to create trust as new goals are set together and independently.
The more you’re able to share about your life story and your past experiences, the more your employees or team will be able to make a connection to you. They will rely on your word much more as they learn about you.
Another great way to build trust is to give your employees critical feedback that will help them learn the right and wrong ways to do things while encouraging them to do their best. Think back to a time when you received critical feedback, it most likely gave you the skills you needed to succeed while giving you a chance to build trust. This trust is vital to any organization.
In your personal life, you will probably notice that being consistent gives you more trusting relationships. The people who you have the most trusting relationships with are probably the people who have shown you the most consistency since the start of the relationship. The principle is just as true in business, and is just as important.
Your employees need to see you have consistency in what you do, they need to see that you are self-disciplined and that your choices are the same in every situation. When things get stressful, you cannot allow yourself to go off the deep-end. That would be like destroying the house you’ve worked so hard on building.
You should also involve your employees in important business decisions. While you might not agree with the decisions your employees make, you can do whatever you feel is right for you company. Just be sure that you’re involving your teams opinions when you make a decision. When you involve your team in a business decision, you give them an opportunity to be a part of things, which helps to build trust.
Just like in your personal life, creating transparency in the workplace can help to build trust. When you keep your office closed all the time, or take extended breaks, your employees will always wonder what you are up to, even if you’re making ethical choices. When you give employees a chance to see what you’re doing, it doesn’t give them the chance to come up with fabricated stories about what it is that you’re up to.
If you want to build trust with your employees, you need to make some major changes. You should always be willing to go the extra mile for your employees. It will help you produce better results in your company and meet goals at rates you can’t imagine.
