Straight-talking leaders and good communication can solve trust issues
You can find with most situations that good honest communication is the key to solving problems and conflicts. It may seem like an obvious point, but it is important to establish a good working relationship between employer and employee. A recent CIPD survey showed that personable, straight talking managers gained the vote of confidence and trust from their employees.
The research highlights four foundational pillars of trustworthy leaders. These are: ability, benevolence, integrity and predictability. These traits are something that managers should work on to gain a good working relationship with their staff, as increased trust and better working relationships leads to better business productivity.
Here are a few ways HR can help your organisation put this into practice:
- Encouraging leaders to share their personal stories,
- Providing master-classes on self awareness for leaders
- Encouraging the use of assessment practices such as 360 degree feedback
- Creating platforms for open conversations about trust
- Ensuring that trustworthy behaviour is visibly rewarded.
It is recommended that leaders reveal their personal side from time to time. The more we feel like we know someone, the more likely we are to trust their judgement and understand their decisions.
Organisations with higher levels of trust perform far better in terms of innovation, problem solving, engagement and knowledge sharing. Given the current climate where trust is concerned, with the recent issues with banking and health care sectors in particular, it is of the utmost importance that companies work to set up appropriate platforms for trustworthy leaders to develop.
To talk to the team at the TBC about improving the performance of your team, take a look at our contact page.
