Architects of Trust: Building Trust in the Workplace

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Architects of Trust Building Trust in the
Workplace

• Ann Brown, MA
• AR Brown Business Group Inc.
• www.bccq.org

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Some Survey Numbers
70 of employees believe that trust and loyalty
within the firms is declining 60 do not believe
that their management is upright, ethical and
honest 50 believe that lack of trust is a
problem in their workplace (57 organizations
surveyed) 70 wont speak up because they fear
repercussions
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One Bottom Line Number

• 6,500 employees surveyed at 76 Holiday Inn
  international hotels
• Correlated with customer satisfaction scores,
  personnel records and hotel revenues
• Hotels where managers were perceived to follow
  through on their promises were more profitable
• 0.125 (1/8th) improvement in employee trust
  ratings (5 point scale) should improve hotel
  profitability by 250,000

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What is Trust?
Trust n. v. 1. (a) a firm belief in the
reliability or truth or strength etc. of a person
or thing (b) the state of being relied on 2. a
confident expectation 3. (a) a thing or person
committed to ones care (b) the resulting
obligation or responsibility (OED)
The act of placing yourself in the vulnerable
position of relying on others to treat you in a
fair, open, and honest way
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Where Do We Trust?

• Social trust - between people
• Trust in organizations - between organizations
  and those they serve
• Intra - organizational trust - within
  organizations
• Inter- organizational trust - between
  organizations

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Some Trust Jargon

• Relational trust
• Organizational trust
• Active trust
• Passive trust
• Dispositional trust

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The Importance of Trust
... in low trust groups, interpersonal
relationships interfere with and distort
perceptions of the problem. Energy and
creativity are diverted from finding
comprehensive, realistic solutions, and members
use the problem as an instrument to minimize
their vulnerability. In contrast, in high trust
groups there is less socially generated
uncertainty and problems are solved more
effectively. Zand, 1972
Under conditions of high trust, problem solving
tends to be creative and productive. Under
conditions of low trust, problem solving tends to
be degenerative and ineffective. R. Wayne Boss,
1977 Harvard Business Review,
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Importance of Trust
The most productive people are the most trusting
people. If this seems to be an astonishing
statement, it shows how distorted the concept of
trust has become. Trust is one of the most
essential qualities of human relationships.
Without it, all human interaction, all commerce,
all society would disappear. Taylor McConnell in
Group Leadership for Self Realization
Trust creates a reservoir of goodwill that
helps preserve the relationship when, as will
inevitably happen, one party engages in an act
that its partner considers destructive. Nirmalya
Kuma, Harvard Business Review November/December
1996
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The Importance of Trust

• Productive relationships are based on trust
  often unrecognized and taken for granted
• Its a resource that increases with use
• Enables coordination without coercion
• Enables commitments to be undertaken in
  situations of high risk

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Reasons for Low Trust

• Frame of reference - past experiences
• Feelings - low self esteem, vulnerability
• Facts - past results (or perception of past
  results)
• Perception of attributes of the trustee
• competence
• capacity and ability
• profession
• intentions (virtue)

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Roots of Low Trust in the Workplace

• Lack of inclusion
• Feelings of deprivation and loss
• Perceptions of vulnerability
• No positive attachment to a boss
• Previous experiences yours or other peoples

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Trust (or not) in Change

• All change creates distrust. Trust is often the
  first casualty of change.
• Effective communication depends on the capability
  and willingness of the receiver
• Concepts of fairness and clear process shapes
  workable relationships

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Fallout From Change

• Older forms of hierarchy being replaced
• New webs or networks may be based on business
  processes
• New accountabilities requiring people to work in
  teams
• May require new skill sets, attitudes and
  understanding e.g. initiative, relational
  competence, time management

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Biggest Trust Buster in Change

• Organizational change entails a risk of
  generating real or perceived misalignment between
  a managers words and deeds

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Behavioural Integrity

• Employees perception of the pattern of word/deed
  alignment

Performance
Organizational citizenship behaviour
Willingness to promote and implement change
EMPLOYEE TRUST
Intent to stay with the organization
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Organizational Citizenship How people behave in
the organization norms.

• Coworker trust and teams
• Environment for trust affects motivation in
  groups

• Knowledge sharing versus knowledge hoarding
• Voluntary Participation covert/overt resistance

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Characteristics of Trust Builders

• Faith in life and hope in the goodness of mankind
• A healing attitude
• Able to self disclose
• Able to risk being open and vulnerable
• Self acceptance
• Self awareness - clear values, boundaries

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Architect of Trust
Taking the responsibility to build trust
Authenticity - finding your voice Emotional
Intelligence - tuning into your own emotions and
those of others. Climate Building - creating an
environment where people can bring forth their
ideas, values and concerns Walking the Talk -
actions speak louder than words - espoused values
v. values in action
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Choosing to Trust
What are my feelings
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How do you Trust?
I dont trust anyone until they are shown to be
trustworthy
I trust everyone until they are shown NOT to be
trustworthy

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What Are Your Trust Patterns?

• People, groups and institutions that I connect
  with
• Do I trust/not trust them?
• Why do I trust/not trust them?
• What beliefs, assumptions or facts am I basing
  this on?

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Who Should I Trust?
Interests Does this person share my goals,
values and beliefs? Competence Does this
person have the required knowledge and
ability.? Accountability Will this person honor
commitments? Reliability Will this person tell
me what I need to know? Attitude Does this
person want me to succeed?
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The Trust Building Equation
Intention Preparation Mechanics
Outcomes
Results
Communication
Trust
Authenticity
Self Knowledge
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Trust BuildersImplementing Change

• Understand the climate.
• Understand the level of resilience future shock
• Are you stepping on values, norms and traditions?
• Practice the very best communication frequently
• Resistance is normal and healthy listen
• Dont ignore the signs it wont go away

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Trust Building Actions

• COMMUNICATION
• Solve problems through direct communication.Be
  explicit. If compromise is productive, do it in
  communication, not in your mind alone
• Ask non-assumptive questions. Inquiry not
  advocacy.
• Practice deep listening - suspend judgement
• Look for the positive - acknowledge the intent
  first
• Validate success or new effort. Share credit
  generously
• RESULTS
• When in doubt about taking on a commitment, air
  your concerns. Only make promises you can keep.
• Schedule regular opportunities for input and
  feedback
• Be timely
• Be willing to be wrong

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Hidden Trust Busters

• Distance Barriers - telephone, email, fax - lacks
  the high touch - psychological separation
• Physical Barriers - the structure of the meeting
  place
• Language Barriers - language used may not be the
  first language of both parties.
• Cultural Barriers - trust may mean different
  things and be built in different ways e.g.
• North America - Demonstrated performance over
  time
• China, Latin America, Arab countries -
  relationships - social interaction over time

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Common Organizational Trust Based Practices

• Effectiveness and Productivity
• Improvement and Change
• Culture and Moral
• Employee Retention/Turnover

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CommunicationAdvocacy

• A western academic business tradition that
  stresses testing one viewpoint against the other
  to find the strongest.
• We focus almost exclusively on advocacy
• Most managers are trained to be advocates
• critiquing - adversarial thinking - confrontation
  - presenting our views and arguing strongly for
  them - debating forcefully to influence others

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CommunicationInquiry

• A complementary skill to advocacy that seeks to
  uncover information about why a particular view
  is held
• Asks questions about underlying assumptions,
  beliefs, reasoning
• Explores why do you believe this ?
• Supported by attitude of wanting to understand,
  explore, learn, expand
• Not a technique to cross examine people or find
  fault

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Appreciative Inquiry

• Draws on research and studies that show how we
  get more of what we focus on and looks for the
  best of what might be.

Problem Solving
Appreciative Inquiry

• Assumes situations are problems to be overcome
• Problem, symptoms, causes, solutions, action
  plan, intervention
• Breaks things into pieces guaranteeing fragmented
  responses. Slow, linear change.
• What to fix.

• Assumes situations are sources of infinite
  capacity and imagination
• Good, better, possibilities
• Expanded vision of preferred future. Creates new
  energy fast.
• What to grow

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CommunicationListening

• Group of obstetricians with similar competence
  and skills
• Drs. perceived as poor listeners who spent less
  time or were more abrupt in their interactions
  had more malpractice suits that those who were
  perceived as attentive, who took time and who
  listened.
• JAMA research

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CommunicationDeep Listening
FOCUS ON YOU
Level IIIIntuitive Listening at the Essence level
Level II Focused Listening at the Feeling level
Level IInternal Listening at the Word level.
FOCUS ON ME
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ResultsProject Management

• Keep it simple
• Traditional good project practices small time
  frames, lots of wins
• Full participation in the planning
• Clear roles, responsibilities
• Full understanding of what participation and
  commitment to plan means

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Big Snakes, Little Ladders

• Trust builds incrementally
• Distrust has a catastrophic effect
• 5 times the effort to rebuild

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Why Is It So Hard to Rebuild Trust?

• Why is it hard for people to do? Typically
  involves admissions of guilt, apology,
  compensation and/or punishment - each of which
  may have significant costs.
• Why is it hard to accept from someone? Involves
  repeating a decision that was proven to be wrong
  the first time.

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Importance of Trust within Organizations
Although an organization obviously cannot
succeed without high levels of trust between
members, most aggressive companies do little to
actively build trust. The typical corporation
spends huge sums of money training its managers
in interpersonal skills, but pays lip service to
the critical issue of trust. Marsha Sinetar,
Organizational Dynamics, 2001
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Why Not?

• demands on overstretched managers and executives,
  skill set that takes us into intimidating
  territory, requires significant time and energy,
  and demands risk
• easier to spend two days learning new project
  management software, or two weeks adopting a new
  strategic thinking model than to undertake the
  complex exploration of building trust and
  connection with other human beings.

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Maintaining an Environment of Trust Challenges

• As society and institutions become more complex
  the attribution of blame and responsibility for
  failures becomes diffuse. (I see you, I blame you
  so I dont trust you)
• Complex organizations make it hard to deliver
  consistent service and conduct
• Need for quick trust - being in a hurry to
  complete the process - pace/workloads
• Trust in government is a scarce resource

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High Trust Organizations

• Experience ½ the average turnover of industry
  peers
• Higher productivity and profitability
• More qualified candidates for open positions
• Higher levels of customer satisfaction and
  loyalty
• More adaptive organizational structures
• Constructive strategic alliances
• Responsive virtual teams
• Effective crisis management
• Reduced transaction and litigation costs

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The People Result

• Investment in becoming Architects of Trust,
  develops an organization full of employees that
• trust management
• willing to speak up and challenge the process to
  improve the way things are,
• bring commitment, innovation and energy to their
  work
• That's competitive advantage