Building Trust at Work

  • 1 min read

shutterstock_200042519Trust is essential when building a healthy and productive work environment. Whether you’re leading an entire department or you work hand-in-hand with a just a few coworkers, it’s important to build trusting relationships. Trust is essential to maintaining the company’s brand as well as supporting a healthy and fun work environment.

Here are five tips to help build trust with both your coworkers and your superiors:

  1. Be honest and share information completely. Be straightforward and honest with everyone, and expect the same in return.
  2. Be open to others’. Don’t dismiss an idea simply because it doesn’t align with what you had in mind.Take everyone’s feedback into consideration before making a final decision and let others be heard. Sharing ideas is one factor that sets wildly successful businesses apart from those that struggle to grow. Idea sharing allows the best ideas to come to light.
  3. Stand up for what you believe in.If you feel strongly about an issue, make sure you voice your opinion, but be prepared to share evidence to support your view. It doesn’t have to be voiced with contention. Remember, this is your team.
  4. Follow through on the commitments you make.The easiest way to lose someone’s trust and confidence is to let them down. Make sure you meet your commitments and don’t set deadlines you can’t meet.
  5. Learn from your mistakes. Mistakes will happen, and when they do, own up to them. Taking responsibility and developing a process to ensure the same mistake isn’t repeated is a great way to build trust. Taking responsibility for your mistakes doesn’t have to be a big, soul crushing experience. Think about it: if we try new things, we will make mistakes. We learn by iteration. If we aren’t making mistakes, we aren’t taking any chances. When a mistake occurs, try this: take responsibility. Then discuss how the same situation won’t have the same result next time. Finally, discuss what you and your team learned from the situation.

Trust is the glue that keeps incredible, effective teams together. When things go wrong (and they will), a team bonded with trust can orient faster, evaluate honestly, split work with confidence, and will find a better, more stable solution to any situation. They’ll do all that with more grace.

Keeping yourself accountable to being a trustworthy coworker makes you a better team member, and a better person.

 

Picture of Nicole Smartt

Nicole Smartt

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