There are many different reasons why employees choose to change employers- but there does seem to be a common theme: lack of trust. Many times, this is due to changes in the company, such as a change in leadership or a merger/acquisition. Other times, it’s due to a lack of trust in co-workers. However, the most common problem is that managers don’t establish trust in their employees to complete the assigned tasks without being micromanaged. This results in feelings of frustration and disrespect, creating employees that are not as engaged.
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There are a few things that business owners and managers can implement to establish and foster trust with their employees. In this article, we’ll discuss a few of them.
8 Tips to Establish & Foster Trust
Below, we’ve gathered 8 tips that can help you effectively establish and foster trust with your employees.
Look within
The very first step is to look within yourself. Think about what has created or fed your fear of trusting your employees. This will help you change your thinking. One of the most common causes is a fear of delegation. This often is because you don’t have the confidence to oversee a project without being involved.
Think about employee performance
Think about how much time you spend micromanaging your employees. Then, think about their performance. How many issues have you had with each one and does their performance warrant the time you spend micromanaging them?
Encourage open communication
If your employees feel like they can come to you with questions or concerns about a project, you probably don’t need to check in on them as often.
Ask for/value feedback
When your employees are working on a project, they may have some thoughts that you may not be able to see. Therefore, ask them for their feedback and if there are areas where they believe there is room for improvement. This will not only increase trust and productivity but will encourage them to see the big picture and feel like a valuable piece of the puzzle.
Review training procedures
While it can be challenging to take the time to train employees on a new task, taking the time to do so can improve confidence, reduce errors, and save time on modifications and revisions.
Create milestones for project updates
When you have a project in process, it’s important to create milestones for project updates. This will keep you in the loop and allow you to maintain or improve productivity.
Automate checks and balances system
Establish a system of automated checks and balances, or utilize peer reviews, at certain points where errors occur. This will help ensure that they are corrected. This can also provide you with valuable insights from your employees and allow you to focus on other things.
Establish penalties for violations of trust
The truth is, due to the human factor, some mistakes are inevitable. However, you can reduce intentional trust violations by establishing and communicating penalties for those violations.
Conclusion
Trust is a critical part of a successful business and starts at the top when managers and owners communicate and model expected behaviors. Once you hire and onboard your employees, it’s important that you trust them. When you show them that you trust them, they will trust you.
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