Building Trust and Relationships in the Workplace
Introduction
Imagine you are buying a car. When you trust the person you are buying it from, the deal might not require any paperwork and would be completed quickly. However, if you don’t trust the person you are buying it from, there is much more work involved – checking Car Fax, a mechanic’s inspection, and a written agreement. In the work place, trusting a colleague helps you get work done more efficiently and promotes positive work culture.
Problem
In the summer of 2012, an Employee Survey was conducted of all Environmental Services staff. From this survey, we were given insightful and thoughtful feedback on how to make overall improvements to our organization. The 21 multiple choice questions that were asked focused on relationships, trust, accountability, and pride in your work. To be able to fully understand and address issues that were brought up in the survey, we broke it down into the categories of non-bargaining unit (professional staff), supervisor or manager (management staff), and bargaining unit (labor staff). Based on this break down, 50 percent of the professional staff either disagree or strongly disagree that there is trust in leadership. Among the labor staff, this percentage jumps up to 60 percent. In addition, with the labor staff, 40 percent disagree or strongly disagree that they have a good relationship with their supervisor. There were also open ended questions that led to responses that focused two main topics of communication and relationships. Many negative responses indicated a lack of trust and open communication between management and themselves. Employees want to feel respected and have their opinions valued. They feel it is important to seek their input on changes that will be made.
Based on this information, the problem that needs to be addressed is the building of trust and relationships within the work group as a whole and with the leadership of the department.
Solution
1) Better Communication
Todd Dewett, Ph.D., author of The Little Black Book of Leadership, says that we should “never forget that the most important influence on employee morale and productivity is the quality of the relationships that surround the individual every day.” Dewett points to effective communication as the key to working well with our direct reports and other colleagues. Some may say that they don’t have it in them to communicate well, but communication is viewed as a skill set. Skills can be learned. Great communication is not all about speaking, it is also about listening. To do this, we need to be accessible to our employees who need that attention. We also need to keep our staff “in the loop” on what is happening. Keep them informed of what the “big picture” is and where we are headed.
2) Be Fair
All organizations have a hierarchy. Each of our staff is not equal. Being fair does not mean that we recognize all our staff the same way so they do not feel left out. People do care about their job and have pride in their work. They care about raises, promotions, etc., the process used to make these decisions, and how they are actually treated as people in these decisions. They do not expect equal outcomes, but want to be informed and respected. This is what fair is. Making explanations to staff may not make them love what we do, but it will help them accept what happened as a legitimate decision. (Dewett, p.60, 62)
3) Seek Real Participation
Not all participation opportunities are the same. We want to make sure when we ask for participation, we do it with the intention of actually hearing what the staff thinks and have the honest intention of considering acting on that input. We want to shy away from asking for feedback and using that information to manage impressions that our staff has of what we are doing. Staff can sense insincerity. (Dewett, p.63, 64)
Conclusion
Based on the reading of the leadership books listed in my works cited section, I see the following items as key factors to helping our organization:
Imagine you are buying a car. When you trust the person you are buying it from, the deal might not require any paperwork and would be completed quickly. However, if you don’t trust the person you are buying it from, there is much more work involved – checking Car Fax, a mechanic’s inspection, and a written agreement. In the work place, trusting a colleague helps you get work done more efficiently and promotes positive work culture.
Problem
In the summer of 2012, an Employee Survey was conducted of all Environmental Services staff. From this survey, we were given insightful and thoughtful feedback on how to make overall improvements to our organization. The 21 multiple choice questions that were asked focused on relationships, trust, accountability, and pride in your work. To be able to fully understand and address issues that were brought up in the survey, we broke it down into the categories of non-bargaining unit (professional staff), supervisor or manager (management staff), and bargaining unit (labor staff). Based on this break down, 50 percent of the professional staff either disagree or strongly disagree that there is trust in leadership. Among the labor staff, this percentage jumps up to 60 percent. In addition, with the labor staff, 40 percent disagree or strongly disagree that they have a good relationship with their supervisor. There were also open ended questions that led to responses that focused two main topics of communication and relationships. Many negative responses indicated a lack of trust and open communication between management and themselves. Employees want to feel respected and have their opinions valued. They feel it is important to seek their input on changes that will be made.
Based on this information, the problem that needs to be addressed is the building of trust and relationships within the work group as a whole and with the leadership of the department.
Solution
1) Better Communication
Todd Dewett, Ph.D., author of The Little Black Book of Leadership, says that we should “never forget that the most important influence on employee morale and productivity is the quality of the relationships that surround the individual every day.” Dewett points to effective communication as the key to working well with our direct reports and other colleagues. Some may say that they don’t have it in them to communicate well, but communication is viewed as a skill set. Skills can be learned. Great communication is not all about speaking, it is also about listening. To do this, we need to be accessible to our employees who need that attention. We also need to keep our staff “in the loop” on what is happening. Keep them informed of what the “big picture” is and where we are headed.
2) Be Fair
All organizations have a hierarchy. Each of our staff is not equal. Being fair does not mean that we recognize all our staff the same way so they do not feel left out. People do care about their job and have pride in their work. They care about raises, promotions, etc., the process used to make these decisions, and how they are actually treated as people in these decisions. They do not expect equal outcomes, but want to be informed and respected. This is what fair is. Making explanations to staff may not make them love what we do, but it will help them accept what happened as a legitimate decision. (Dewett, p.60, 62)
3) Seek Real Participation
Not all participation opportunities are the same. We want to make sure when we ask for participation, we do it with the intention of actually hearing what the staff thinks and have the honest intention of considering acting on that input. We want to shy away from asking for feedback and using that information to manage impressions that our staff has of what we are doing. Staff can sense insincerity. (Dewett, p.63, 64)
Conclusion
Based on the reading of the leadership books listed in my works cited section, I see the following items as key factors to helping our organization:
- Seek out better communication with staff; be available; listen
- Be fair; treat with respect
- Seek out real participation