To be successful as a manager, it is important to develop a relationship with the team that is based on trust. When employees trust and respect their manager, they will go the extra mile, especially when they feel trustworthy and supported.
Employees rarely stand out under the punishing thumb of someone they don’t trust and who they feel like you don’t trust them. Without confidence, productivity suffers when team members play politics, spend time covering themselves and complying with dictates that they know are counterproductive. Lack of trust affects customer morale and satisfaction as employees shift energy and focus from working on real-life issues affecting customers to resentment and dissatisfaction toward management.
Effective communication
Managers who communicate openly and frequently build relationships and trust with the team. They should not make team members guess what they are thinking, but rather tell them. Employees may feel that no news is bad news. Lack of interaction erodes trust. Face-to-face interaction is the best method to build trust.
To build trust, administrators need to give trust
It is important for a manager to create an environment of trust. This starts with trusting others. It is more effective to assume that employees are trustworthy unless they prove otherwise, rather than waiting to build trust when they have not earned it. As team members feel like their manager trusts them, it becomes easier for them to trust in return.
Be honest
Honesty is a very important factor that affects trust. Managers who demonstrate candor about their actions, intentions, and vision soon find that people respond positively to self-disclosure and honesty. As a manager, openly share the good news and the bad news. This can eliminate gossip and spread inappropriate policies. Great managers know they are not perfect and they make mistakes. It is better for a manager to admit mistakes rather than ignore or cover them up. A cover-up (perceived or real) is probably the biggest enemy to trust.
Establish strong business ethics
Managers must establish moral values for the workplace. Teams with a common ethic are healthier, more productive, adaptable, responsive, and resourceful because they are united under a common set of values.
Keep your word
Do what you say you will do and make your actions visible. Team members quickly pick up on insincerity and broken promises. Visibly keeping commitments will build trust. If a manager refuses to make actions visible to the team, it can create the impression / perception that they are not compliant.
Keep interactions consistent and predictable
Building trust is a process. Trust is the result of a constant and predictable interaction over time. If a manager responds differently from week to week, it becomes more difficult to trust him or her.
Set the tone for the future early on
The manager’s initial actions establish norms and expectations. A manager must lead by example.
Be accessible and responsive
Find ways to be regularly available to team members. When interacting, be receptive. The lack of response causes discomfort and mistrust. Be more action-oriented than conversation-oriented. Don’t just think about acting – do it!
Maintain confidence
Team members must be able to raise concerns, identify problems, share confidential information, and bring relevant issues to light. It is important to reach an agreement up front on how sensitive data will be handled.
Take care of your language
It is important that a manager’s language does not imply “we” or “them”. The terminology should be easy to understand. Leaders must adhere to business language and not use strong or vulgar language.
Create social time for the team
A lot of trust is built through informal social interaction. Successful managers make sure that social opportunities present themselves regularly.
Building trust with employees is critical to building an effective team that works well together. Taking the time to build trust will yield long-lasting benefits for managers.