In the Profitable Growth Partners Boot Camp for Managers program, we start with the topic of "Trust" because trust is one of the foundations of all high performance teams. A question that often comes up in our sessions is:"How does one assess an organization’s trust environment?"
There are ten behavioral factors I’d look for when trying to determine an organization’s willingness to trust employees and it’s own trustworthiness. Think about rating the following on a scale from low to high:
1. Leaders who don’t vs. those who do “walk the talk.” Do the senior execs in your company do what they say? Do they model the behavior that they expect from you? (E.g. they expect you to work long hours or weekends to get your job done, but they wander in late and leave early; or they expect you to always be on time for meetings, but they are typically late or cancel at the last minute; they talk about the customer always being first and most important, but they are quick to criticize and complain about the customer).
2. Micro-management vs. Empowerment. Does your management team freely give responsibility to others and then let go, trusting that the work will get done as requested? Or do they micro-manage the people and the process, undermining a person’s sense of autonomy and authority?
3. Taking credit vs. giving credit. Do the managers in your organization give credit for a team’s or subordinate’s accomplishment rather than take all the credit themselves? Do they recognize and compliment a job well done or are they more often criticizing?
4. Redundant Work vs. streamlined, efficient work . Is there redundancy throughout the organization, as evidenced by unnecessary duplication or rework? If yes, this implies a level of distrust based on the belief that no one person can do the job right.
5. Unclear, overlapping roles vs. clear roles/responsibilities. Is there confusion about who does what within your organization and who is responsible for what on a team project? If yes, this readily leads to unproductive competition and mistrust amongst co-workers.
6. High level of bureaucracy vs. low level. Is there a seeming abundance of rules, regulations, procedures and approval processes that must be adhered to and that slow down the workflow or inhibit creativity? If yes, this is indicative of an organization which is overly controlling and reluctant to trust individual judgment.
7. Office Politics vs, Office Openness. Do employees spend more time worrying about how to influence a senior exec or gain more “power” within the company than they spend time worrying about doing their jobs well? If yes, people will tend to withhold information, operate with hidden agendas, “back-bite” others. This creates a high level of distrust of dysfunctionality.
8. Disengaged, unmotivated employees vs. Engaged and motivated. Do employees seem to be just going through the motions, working the minimum required hours with a low level of enthusiasm or commitment? If yes, this is a sign of serious dissatisfaction that can fester within a non-trusting environment.
9. High Turnover vs. low turnover. What’s the employee, the vendor, the customer turnover rate for your organization? Higher than industry averages? If yes, it’s a clear sign that trust in either the management or the organization is lacking.
10. Low Customer Satisfaction vs. High Customer Satisfaction? How satisfied are customers with your product and your customer service? If satisfaction is low, there’s obviously a problem here, which ultimately results in lower trust of the organization and could be caused by an organization which operates with low trust.
If you find yourself identifying more of the low-end, negative behaviors, then trust could be an issue within your organization. If you are the boss, think hard about how you can change your culture. If not the boss, be sure YOU are trustworthy and exhibit the behaviors we’ve previously discussed. Be an example!
Managing Partner
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