Building Trust in the Workplace

Trust is one of the most important things in any work environment. Whether you are a lower level employee or a supervisor, you want your coworkers to be able to trust you and believe they can rely on you. Having trust in a work environment makes for a better, more cohesive team. Work members that feel they can trust each other are usually more productive, honest and typically happier. On the other hand, distrust in the workplace most often causes a breakdown of team and morale. When people feel they cannot trust each other, there is no longer communication and the work environment suffers. Building trust in the workplace is crucial. Here are some tips on how to go about achieving it.

Never Lie
If you are a supervisor with bad news to deliver to your employees, there is no sense in lying. The news will get out eventually and if you are honest from the get go, your team will respect you more for it. If you cannot answer a question, tell your employee you will get back to them. Again, do not lie because this will surely break any and all trust that has potentially built.

Be Consistent
Make sure you are a reliable and consistent worker. Building trust in the workplace is not something that can be done overnight so you need to show you are trustworthy at all times- no matter what the situation. Be consistent in what you say and do and people will have a greater sense of respect for you, as well as more trust.

Share Information
When making tough management decisions, make sure you share information regularly with your employees. Keeping your workers out of the loop causes insecurity and a higher rate of gossip among workers. Sharing regular information with your team will make them feel like they are part of the process of whatever decision you may be making, thus building trust in the workplace.

Trust is something that takes time to build and cultivate. It is built on reliability, openness and doing the right thing. Creating trust with open communication and honesty will ensure that your work environment will more productive and happier as a whole. Focus on creating a work environment where trust can easily grow and, though it may take some time and patience, trust in the workplace is definitely worth having.

SOURCE: Corsum
IMAGE: Courtesy of Interaction Institute