Trust - The Cornerstone of Employee Engagement - Trust

Do you Trust your manager, and how does she earn your Trust ? During this difficult economy trust will be increasingly important to encourage risk taking and innovation as employee reports will be scared of losing their jobs.

The basic foundation of any human relationship such as between customer and supplier, or between peers, and in particular between manager/report is based on trust. Trust is the foundation of employee engagement and must be fostered and established before any meaningful engagement can take place.

A good essay on Trust outlines much of the essence of trust, and another article on trust views several dimensions to measure and view trust within. A key aspect in these articles is vulnerability. We are all in some ways vulnerable to others we work and do business with.

As a leader it is imperative to work to build an maintain trust from the outset, and further develop trust as the relationship develops. You will experience critical events where you can either gain or lose trust.

As a manager, key events and activities which you should pay special attention to are:

• Career goals, expectations, promotions, job performance ratings
• Responsibility feedback, positive and/or constructive corrective
  
• Peer and organizational conflict
• Rewards and recognition
• Salary compensation, bonus and stock options
• Decisions on projects and program funding, cancellation, redirection

On a daily basis there are many aspects in which you are being watched by your reports, your peers, customers and managers. You live in a fishbowl and you get watched. Here are key questions which you should ask yourself:

• Do you delegate responsibility and maintain accountability ? and do you give authority for decision making ?
• Do you give visibility to your reports to make presentations, publish their work, work with external groups ?
• Do you request detailed status, or high level status, what actions do you take with the status provided ?
  
• When there are problems and failures what is your reaction ?
• What there is success how do you assign the credit ?, how is success advertised to management ?
  
• When you report to management on schedule slips of execution issues how do you report the problem and cause ?
• Do you remember statements, and commitments you make ?
  
• Are you accountable to follow-through or explain and ask for accommodation when you cannot ?
  

As a manager who should try to find out whether your employee's trust you, here are some questions you can ask yourself:

• Do my reports openly share information and news which may increase their vulnerability to me ? (example: an issue in their personal or home life which may disrupt their work).
  
• Does my report go above and beyond without an explicit guarantee up front of return ? (this aspect is delayed reciprocity) ?
• What do my former reports say to their peers about me ?
• What is my reputation for being trustworthy and predictable ?
• Does my report give me constructive feedback ? is it genuine ?, if so what how do you respond when you get the feedback ?

Any report is vulnerable to their manager for ongoing employment, opportunities for development, promotion and career growth. Being vulnerable is scary and emotional for most report's. The best way to engage an employee is to build their trust, and remember your actions count more than your words.

And if you ever screw up and you regret it, show some vulnerability and own it, go back to your report and make amends.

So strive to be a truly empowered leader and go build a solid foundation of trust with your team members.