WHY YOU NEED TO BUILD TRUST WITH YOUR EMPLOYEES
Trust is the foundation of any relationship - especially for leaders and their teams.
A leader can be empowering, inspiring, and beneficial. They can also be demotivating, negative, and destructive. Trust is a vital component of that.
Keep reading for 4 reasons why building trust as a leader is important.
Trust fosters a creative work environment
Want a creative and fun company culture? Build trust.
If you're the sort of leader that micromanages or controls the environment too much, people won't embrace their creativity.
But on the flip side, if bosses create an environment where employees are encouraged to speak their minds, they're going to:
Share thoughts
Take initiate
Find innovative ways of improving themselves & the company
Be far more invested in the company's success.
And when you encourage creativity - follow through with appreciation. Acknowledgement produces a further drive for employees to keep going. 65% of people said they would work harder if they felt their contributions were noticed (Yahoo Finance).
Trust facilitates effective communication
For any company to run smoothly, communication is crucial.
As a leader, you have to ensure that:
Everyone is working towards the same goals
People are confident in what their targets and tasks are
Any miscommunication is quickly sorted
But you can't do that unless you have a solid relationship with your employees.
Employees need to trust that:
Your goals and tasks are realistic
The goals benefit them
You put in the utmost effort to communicate with honesty and detail
You'll avoid a lot of conflicts, but if conflict does happen - you would've built a strong enough foundation to resolve it effectively and quickly.
Trust helps employees build trust with one another
A business cannot truly function without teamwork and collaboration.
96% of employees in leadership positions blame lack of collaboration as the top reason for workplace failures.
Companies that promote collaboration have been linked to reducing employee turnover rates by 50%
Individuals who collaborate are 50% more effective at completing tasks
39% of employees say there’s not enough collaboration in their organisation (Zippia).
And before you put the fault on your employees for not working together enough, remember that the culture of a business comes from its leaders.
When employees see their bosses showing trust and respect, they're more likely to emulate this behaviour with their coworkers. Creativity, collaboration, and productivity will develop over time because there's an overall understanding of how to treat each other, appreciate one another, and support one another.
Building trust as a leader is key to long-term success
Any boss that is intentional about building true, trusted relationships with their colleagues, they'll reap the benefits of:
High retention rates
High productivity
Loyal and committed employees
A team that works together
Goals being achieved
Leading a team by fear or micromanagement will only go so far. It's not a sustainable practice and the harsh reality is that people simply won't stay. Or if they do, they'll fall into quiet quitting and not put true effort into their work.
Without your team, there is no business. They have unique talents and through building trust, you'll facilitate an environment where those talents make lasting results for your company.
- Written by Oliver Howson
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