How to Earn Trust: 7 Keys to Winning Over Employees
June 23, 2020
Trust.
It’s a crucial component we all know to be necessary for healthy, functioning relationships to grow and thrive. The nature of the relationship doesn’t matter—romantic relationships, friendships, familial relationships, and, yes, work relationships, all depend on trust. If you want your employees to provide their best work and follow your leadership, you need to first earn their trust.
But that’s easier than done. It surely is a little disheartening is it to hear that 1 in 4 workers don’t trust their employers.
That’s according to a study by the American Psychological Association (APA) and it highlights a pretty dire issue within the workforce. If your employees don’t trust you, you had better believe you aren’t getting their best work. And turnover is also likely to be a very expensive problem for you to deal with.
So, let’s talk about what you can do on your end to make sure your employees know you have their backs.
Reward Performance
People like to be acknowledged for a job well done, and positive reinforcement almost always proves more beneficial than negative. So the first key to getting your employees to trust you is to reward their good performance. Recognize their accomplishments and provide benefits for achievement. You don’t have to go overboard or blow your budget; even a surprise coffee and spontaneous “thank you” can do wonders.
Accountability
Employees aren’t just concerned about how you treat them; they are also always conscious of how your entire team is being managed. Showing favoritism or allowing some to get away with behavior that others would be docked for is a great way to lose trust. Be sure you are always holding each of your employees—and yourself—to the same standards.
Fair Pay
It doesn’t take much research for people to find out what the average rate of pay is for others in their position in any given geographic area. Most of that information is compiled and readily available online. So paying people what they are worth, and on par with what others of similar talent and experience are making, is important. Shortchanging your staff is not a great way to earn their loyalty. (Some may even retaliate by fudging the timecard a little bit.) Why would they give you what they’re worth when you won’t?
Realistic Job Descriptions
Job descriptions are like a contract between you and your employees. What they say matters, and sticking to that description is how to earn trust. Yes, all jobs are fluid, to an extent. And there will always be some duties that come up which weren’t directly defined prior to hiring. But ensuring your job descriptions are at least mostly in line with the duties involved in the actual job is important if you want your employees to trust that you didn’t pull a bait and switch on them when you extended the job offer.
Lead By Example
No one trusts the boss who writes up employees for being 5 minutes late but then spends every Friday morning on the golf course. If you want your employees to work and behave a certain way, you need to first be willing to adhere to the same standards. Otherwise, your employees will quickly deem you to be a hypocrite, greatly reducing any motivation they may have to do as they are told.
Ask, Don’t Tell
Yes, you are the boss. This means that your employees should have to do what you say. But no one wants to follow a tyrant, and how you give orders can directly affect how likely your employees are to comply. At the very least, it will influence how happy they will be about it in the process. So try asking rather than telling when issues need to be addressed. Be the boss who is approachable—not the one who leads by invoking fear.
Don’t Think of it As a Trick
Good employers are the ones that people want to follow. They don’t have to trick their employees into trusting them. Remember, your employees are people too. And while you do have to lead, there is a way to do that with sincerity and compassion. Earning trust isn’t a trick; it’s a byproduct of ethical leadership. There’s no “hacking” to be done here. Just think of how you’d want to be treated as an employee.
Turns out, trustworthy people make trustworthy bosses.
June 23, 2020
1 Comment