Why Building Trust In The Workplace Is Important
The 2019 Deloitte Global Millennial Survey discovered that more than a quarter of Millennials have 0% trust in business leaders (ouch!) [1]. Of course, this generation makes up most of the global workforce, which means that employers have some work to do. But as it turns out, organizations don’t seem to have much trust in their employees, either. The question is, why does this matter?
It matters because almost every company today is fighting to survive in an environment of turbulent change. From technology to market demands, companies must respond, adapt, and evolve quicker than the competition. To do this, they need their people to be on board and aligned with the company’s shifting goals.
Unfortunately, though, people aren’t genetically wired to be comfortable with change and the uncertainty that it brings. Our brains register uncertainty as an error [2]. So, most people are afraid of change (even the executive in the corner office). Employees worry about job security due to unknown expectations. Leaders worry that their employees won’t be willing or able to make a success of the change.
The Results Of A Culture That Lacks Trust
Operating in this type of environment creates a corporate culture of fear, panic, and distrust, and not a whole lot of good ever comes out of that. A lack of trust between management and employees often does quite the opposite—a whole lot of bad! For example,
- Stress and fear lead to low staff engagement
- Ill-informed rumors that spur panic and mayhem are more likely to arise
- Higher chance of conflicts between co-workers
- Delayed projects due to poor communication
The Results Of A Culture That’s Developing Trust In The Workplace
If your company is working toward a culture of trust, here’s what you can expect:
- Employees and managers are more likely to have open, meaningful conversations that reduce uncertainty and boost employee engagement.
- Employees are more likely to focus their efforts on achieving strategic goals.
- Building trust in teams creates a positive and focused workplace where employees are motivated and productive.
- Better collaboration between leaders and employees.
- More confident in and respect of each others’ capabilities and opinions.
So, if you’re sold on the importance of trust, the next question is, what role does training play?
What does staff training have to do with building trust in the workplace?
Employee development is all about building trust. Here’s why.
You’ve probably heard that employees (especially Millennials) want opportunities for growth and development more than ever before. When they find an employer who offers these opportunities, they stay with the company for longer. And, given that the US experienced their lowest unemployment rate in nearly 5 decades last year [3], employers need to step up to retain top talent more than ever before.
In other words, you need to ensure that your employees trust their managers to support their development. Managers need to guide a direct reports career path, or the employee might move on. Likewise, managers need to trust their teams to engage in their development plans fully and contribute toward the achievement of business goals.
The solution? With the help of an LMS like TalentLMS, offer consistent, high-quality staff training that equips employees with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to perform and grow. For example, when a sales team is expected to use a new CRM tool to boost sales, they’ll need a course on how to leverage the features of the tool. This will not only help them to become efficient users of the software quickly but will also make them confident in their ability to meet performance goals.
Similarly, with their team upskilled, managers will trust that employees have the competencies to avoid mistakes and that the team will meet their targets. And that’s why staff training has everything to do with building trust in the workplace. Now, let’s look at some practical training strategies for building trust with employees and managers.
How To Build Trust And Confidence In The Workplace With Employee Training
A common expression says that trust is built through actions, rather than words. Well, your number one action will be training. Here are a few practical ways to build trust in the workplace with employee training:
Use Onboarding Training To Establish Rapport
An onboarding program is arguably your most essential trust-building tool. In these first days on the job, use onboarding training to set expectations, and equip employees with the knowledge and skills to meet them. Be sure to also define your company values, and explain how these values are recognized and rewarded.
Finally, set time aside during onboarding for employees and managers to get to know each other. This will be the first step toward building a relationship of mutual trust and setting clear guidelines for goals and expectations.
Implement A Mentorship Program
One of the other great ways to build trust with employees is to set up a mentorship program. A mentor is often an experienced employee who has already earned the trust of company leaders. So, when employees are receiving regular guidance from a mentor, leaders feel confident that their employees are learning the right values and skills.
On the flip side, mentors offer employees support and wisdom, and the mentor-mentee relationship often builds into one of trust and respect.
Encourage Learning Through Risk-Taking
Sometimes, we learn more from what goes wrong than what goes right. In other words, training can provide a safe environment for employees to take risks and experiment. For example, offer employees an innovation project that allows them to be creative, explore, and maybe even make a few mistakes. This shows them that you trust them to challenge themselves and that they are safe to make mistakes.
Similarly, when great ideas, products, or process improvements arise from these experimental learning assignments, employees will gain the trust of the organization in their ability to innovate and add value. In fact, high trust organizations experience 32x greater risk-taking, 11x greater innovation and 6x higher performance [4].
Align Business And Learning
Building trust in organizations is often about aligning employees with the business. So, when business goals are defined, make sure that your training provides employees with the knowledge and skills they need to contribute to those goals. Plus, you can even use eLearning courses to educate staff on business strategy and explain their role in achieving it.
Give Regular Feedback In Training
Trust is based on relationships, and relationships are formed through communication. So, when it comes to training, make sure that managers and employees have regular, relevant, and transparent conversations about development. As an employee’s performance improves over time, and they advance in their careers, they’ll learn to trust their manager’s feedback, and visa versa.
Make Training An Opportunity For Connection
Collaboration is one of the most popular employee engagement strategies, so why not include it in your online training? Discussion forums, webinars, and group work activities all promote a connection between employees. The more they learn about each other, and from each other, the more likely employees are to build strong relationships—which is what trust is all about.
Conclusion
Building trust in the workplace through employee training can boost engagement, increase productivity and make team innovation soar. So, start building your trust training activities today, and see these benefits come to life in your workplace.
References:
[1] The Deloitte Global Millennial Survey 2019 (https://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/millennialsurvey.html)
[2] Handbook of NeuroLeadership (https://neuroleadership.com/portfolio-items/handbook-of-neuroleadership/)
[3] With 8 Years of Job Gains, Unemployment Is Lowest Since 1969
