4 components of a trusting company culture: Learnings from the Workforce Institute
by Sean Oliver, on June 30, 2020
Did you know that companies with employee engagement strategies outperform those without them by three times? A recent article from the Workforce Institute about creating a trusting company culture cited this statistic to demonstrate the critical role that employee engagement plays in determining a business’ bottom line.
There are many ways to think about and drive engagement with employees, but Workforce Institute board member Sharlyn Lauby argues that ‘trust is the top driver of employee engagement...trust is essential in today’s business world’. To that end, Sharlyn shares learnings on four key components of a trusting company culture, which we offer our take on below. For even more insight on how to build company trust, don’t miss the rest of this article from the Workforce Institute.
- Capability
As Sharlyn puts it, ‘organizations and individuals need to have the ability to deliver on their promises’. This is about creating accountability and clear communication for everyone from the boardroom to the break room.
At Crew, we believe that an essential piece of this is giving your team the proper digital tools they need to do exceptional work. Without real-time, two-way communication between leaders and their frontline, trust will be hard to come by. In a recent Q&A we did with Gary Hawkins, CEO of CART, he told us, "One thing that retailers really need - and most do not yet have it - is a real-time communications platform for all of their employees." - Transparency
Particularly relevant during the COVID-19 crisis, leaders need to be transparent about what is happening in the business, and the effect it has on the frontline workforce. Similarly, if true trust is to exist, the frontline must feel empowered to be transparent about what they need from leadership to do their jobs most effectively. - Alignment
Sharlyn writes, ‘This is about values.’ From hiring and onboarding, employees should be very aware of the values of the organization they are working for - and what it means to live up to those values. As crisis communications expert Michael Meath told us in a recent blog Q&A about crisis leadership, ‘It all comes from the top down. If the top is going to show empathy and sincere care, that type of behavior filters down and creates a culture that employees will follow.’ - Past behavior
Sharlyn puts it perfectly: ‘Ultimately, trust is built on what we say and what we do. We can talk about trust all day long, but we also have to live the qualities.’
To learn more about the critical role of trust in your organization, don’t miss the replay of our webinar, How to Build Trust with Your Frontline. We were joined by crisis communications expert, Michael Meath, who shared tactical strategies for establishing trust and leading with integrity.
What do you think are critical ingredients to trust in the workplace? Let us know on Twitter!
Image courtesy of Vecteezy
