The Case for Trust
Research shows that employees at high-trust organizations report:
- 74% less stress
- 50% higher productivity
- 76% more engagement at work
- 40% less burnout
- 106% more energy at work
- 13% fewer sick days
- 29% more satisfaction with their lives
- 41% greater sense of accomplishment
- High-trust companies are >2.5 times more likely to be high-performing revenue organizations than low-trust companies.
- Leaders who are trusted are better able to create loyalty among key stakeholders and solve problems more quickly.
Sources: Harvard Business Review and Deloitte
According to a global survey of employees:
- 68 percent say that the perception of low trust hurts their daily work.
- 24 percent left a company mainly because they did not feel trusted.
- Only 1 in 3 strongly agree that they trust their organization’s leadership.
Further, >1/3rd of C-suite executives are not confident that their organization has maintained trust between leaders and employees and 55 percent of CEOs think a lack of trust is a threat to their organization’s growth.
Sources: “Trust in the Modern Workplace,” Workforce Institute @ UKG, Gallup 2019, Deloitte Global Resilience Report 2021, PwC 2016 Global CEO Survey
Behaviors Learned
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Understand the role trust plays in shaping your personal brand, and the influence and impact you are able to have with others -
Approach trust-building from a place of authenticity, where what you say and do on the outside is congruent with what you feel, think, and value on the inside -
Engage in behaviors that will help you build trust, by strengthening people’s perceptions of your
commitments, character, competence, and caring
Core Ideas
Trust is like a bank account
How much people trust you depends on the size of this bank account. Every interaction you have with them, and what they learn about you from others, adds to or subtracts from this bank account.
Trust builds on itself
The more people trust you, the more opportunities, respect, understanding, and support you get from them. This makes your job easier and more enjoyable. You are then more motivated to give your best, and you experience greater success. That makes others trust you more, creating a virtuous cycle. The opposite is also true — when people trust you less, it can create a downward spiral.
Demonstrate, don’t assert
Trust is best built by demonstrating in your behavior the qualities and qualifications you wish others to learn about you — not by simply asserting your credentials to them.
Fuse strength with warmth
For people to trust you, they need to feel that you connect with them, understand their needs, and care about them. But they are also expecting you to drive results and get to desired outcomes by making the hard calls and having the necessary tough conversations.
Mentora’s training on Building Trust includes five principles:
- Commitment: People trust you more when they see you committed to a noble, uplifting cause.
- Character: When you adhere consistently to a set of values, people respect you for this and know what to expect from you.
- Competence: You need to not just be good at what you do, but to make people feel reassured that you will get them to the right outcome.
- Caring: People need to feel that you understand them, care for them, and are willing to make reasonable sacrifices for them.
- Congruence: If people observe you making claims or commitments you don’t live up to, or going along with something you don’t believe in, they are unlikely to trust you. To be trusted, what you say, think, feel, and do should all be congruent with each other.
