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In Work, We Trust
Ever wondered why some managers lead high- achieving teams while others struggle to inspire? Bob Lee, a leading authority on workplace culture, explains how employee performance begins with trust.
their manager who keeps them there. The telltale signs of a poorly managed team are easy to spot: More ‘they’ than ‘we’ when talking about
E their colleagues, poor
cooperation and little collaboration. One- sided ‘conversations.’ Below-par results, both individual and team. High stress and absenteeism, and high employee turnover. And most noticeable of all, a bad atmosphere. The signs of a well-managed team are equally visible. Plenty of ‘us’ and ‘we,’ cooperation and collaboration. And great results. We know the kind of manager we want to
be, yet we often struggle to put this knowledge to work in how we deal with our employees. To bridge this disconnect, many of the world’s leading employers have, over the last thirty years, evolved a philosophy and a way of managing people for the changed reality of the knowledge economy. Their aim is to bring out the best in people, to engage their whole selves. They know that, without those people, they would have no business. It’s logical, but not every organisation gets it. Trust
person’s ‘reliability, truth, or ability.’ It’s the key to the
relationships, which are the foundation stone of the
trust
is defined as ‘a firm belief’ in a great manager-employee culture on which all great
workplaces are built. In 1981, two business journalists, Robert
Levering and Milton Moskowitz, set out to find the best companies to work for in America and figure out what makes them special. They were surprised to discover that what made these workplaces great was something much more powerful than quirky perks and benefits: it was spirit. “You could feel that spirit when you first
walked through the door, often just by how the receptionist greeted you,” Robert revealed. “I learned that what was truly distinctive about
mployees join organisations but leave managers. When they stay, it’s often
they
the very best workplaces was the way in which employees and management got along with each other. By contrast, really bad workplaces were characterised by the lack of trust.” I worked with Robert and what I’ve learned
is that trust alone defines the quality of the workplace. Find low trust and you’ve found a bad workplace;
find high trust and you’ve
found a great one. And where you find high trust you will always find a great manager.
MAKING THE CASE FOR TRUST The business case for trust is irresistible. The world’s high trust workplaces are more successful than their peers, consistently outperforming them on every business metric that matters. For close to twenty years, our annual studies of six thousand organisations representing more than ten million employees in eighty countries show that high trust organisations attract and keep top talent, innovate more and better, give higher-quality service and deliver superior financial returns. Independent investment firm FTSE Russell
reports that companies with high trust cultures consistently generate superior returns for their investors. The stock market returns of the publicly held high-trust companies recognised by Fortune over a seventeen-year period are nearly three times greater than the market average. Another study found that a portfolio of India’s Best Workplaces outperformed Indian stock market indexes by a factor of nearly four in the five years leading up to 2013.
WHAT FUELS THE SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE? Even in organisations that are not particularly strong workplaces, managers who build high trust relationships with their employees and create positive workplace experiences for their teams get plenty in return: Their teams can focus on achieving business objectives. Their employees don’t suffer the distractions that are
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common in low trust environments, such as internal politics, poor communication or lack of clarity about goals. They get the best that each employee can
offer. When people feel they are working in an emotionally safe and secure environment – one that protects their mental health and well- being – they feel empowered to do their best work and they want to contribute to the best of their ability. The team becomes more than the sum of its
parts. When they feel trusted and in turn trust each other, employees come to view their colleagues as more than just co-workers. They feel they belong to something bigger than themselves, and often use the term ‘team’ or ‘family’ to describe this idea. This sense that ‘we’re
employees to think about the greater good of people
relationships: Society, investors and customers, your organisation, your employees and you.
FINDING THE TRUST RULES My research has identified the crucial trust building attitudes and behaviours that set the world’s best managers apart from all others. Trust Rules reveals the sixteen rules that will have the greatest positive impact on your relationship with your employees, ensuring that they experience you as a reliable, truthful, and capable manager.
HERE ARE THE TOP TEN: Rule 1
Trust first
Rule 2 Rule 3
Live with integrity Keep your promises
Rule 4 Be approachable and easy to talk to
Rule 5 Give straight answers Rule 6
Rule 7
Seek and respond to suggestions and ideas
Involve people in decisions that affect them
Rule 8 Make your expectations clear Rule 9
Show a warm welcome Rule 10 Nobody’s job is ‘just’ anything
About the author During a fifteen-year senior-leadership career with the Great Place to Work institute, Bob Lee enjoyed access to the world’s leading companies in over 50 countries, including Google, Dell, Hilton, Cisco, Diageo and EY. T
all in this together’ encourages on their teams and the wider
organisation, instead of only looking out for their own individual interests. Everyone benefits from high trust workplace
rust Rules
was a #1 bestseller in
Amazon.co.uk’s International Business category. Trust Rules is now available on Amazon
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