How to Earn the Trust of Your Employees ?
Trust is essential to making any relationship healthy. From marriages, to friendships, to leader/employee relationships, trust is the biggest and single most important building block to achieve success.
Here are some surefire ways to earn the trust of your employees, which will lead to improved productivity, communication, and engagement in the company.
Trust your employees. You know the Golden Rule. If you want to be trusted, initiate. As the leader, your employees shouldn’t have the burden to earn your trust anymore — you need to assume that your employees are trustworthy and you should make them feel that you do trust them. In return, they will be more willing to trust you if they know you trust them.
Get to know your team and form relationships. Take the time to let your team know about yourself and get to know them as well. It could be over lunch or break time, but take every chance to share information about yourself and learn about your employees. People are less likely to question your motives when they know more about you.
Stop overcommitting and follow through promises. Being an unreliable manager sends a message that you cannot be trusted. Do not commit to anything you’re not sure you can follow through with — whether it’s as simple as a Friday lunch treat or something bigger like a raise after a project is delivered. Keep your word and you will earn your team’s trust.
Keep confidences. In relation to the previous item, don’t promise confidentiality if you cannot keep it. If your employee has given sensitive information to you — from performance to legal, to ethical — you need to keep their secret safe so they know that you can be trusted.
Admit your weaknesses. It shows a lot of humility to admit your weaknesses or even mistakes to your employees. Instead of looking for someone else to blame for your errors, letting your employees know that you take accountability for things you really are accountable for will display your dedication to building a good relationship with them.
Get feedback. This can be a tough one, but getting feedback is the only way for you to know what your employees really think of you. A lack of trust can mean many things, and receiving specific feedback is a way to address the problem and take the necessary corrective actions.
Acknowledge the contributions of others. Don’t take your employees’ ideas as your own because this will definitely ruin their trust. Advocate your team’s great ideas and credit them for their contribution.
Do not gossip. Talking bad about others behind their backs is a big no-no in life, and it doesn’t hurt to reiterate this in earning the trust of your employees. If you gossip, they will think that you could be doing the same to them. Try sharing positive things about your teammates instead.
Building the trust of your employees will start with you. Use these tips and your employees will start seeing you as a trustworthy manager whom they will be able to work well with and even contribute to the success of.
