Guest Article: Trust Matters, Now More Than Ever by Ben

Last week my friend China Gorman wrote about the lack of trust in the workplace. Here’s the stat:

According to the American Psychological Association’s 2014 Work and Well-Being Survey released last Wednesday, only half of U.S employees believe their employer is open and upfront with them, indicating that despite the mending U.S economy and the return of many organizations’ profitability employees are still struggling to trust their organizational leaders. This distrust comes with serious negative consequences. via China Gorman

That amazes me to hear that. Not that I don’t think it’s accurate–plenty of employers/employees have trust issues; however, I never would have guessed it was in the 50% range. Consider this: if you think someone is not being trustworthy (or “worthy of trust”), then how much effort are you going to give to help them succeed? Not much, I wouldn’t think.

How the other half live

Recently I was talking with a handful of candidates we plan to hire. One of the selling points I use for Pinnacle includes talking about our scores on the annual Best Places to Work survey. Our “trust in leadership” survey results always are in the 99% range every year.

That isn’t just a number. It’s easy to see how that plays into our daily work. When our key leaders say something, people believe it. When they say, “We need to change how we’re doing things, because this isn’t working,” people believe them. It’s amazing to see, and I have never been in an organization with a trust level like this.

If I had to try to pinpoint where it comes from, I would have to say it’s party due to the military/special forces background of our president. He has infused the organization with a culture of belief, and everyone can see how they fit into the overall structure. The way it works, in short, is he trusts in each of his people to do their job well; then they, in turn, can trust him to do his job well.

When I look at the successes our organization has had in the last six years, I don’t see how any of it would have been possible without the culture of trust that has been built since day one.

What about you? Do you and/or the staff at your organization trust your leaders? Why or why not? Anonymous comments are welcome!

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