By Barbara White

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 give special effort
especially when they feel trusted and supported.

Employees rarely
excel under the punitive thumb of someone they do not trust and who
they feel does not trust them. Without trust productivity suffers as
team members play politics, spend time covering themselves and being
compliant to dictates that they know are counterproductive. Lack of
trust affects morale and customer satisfaction as the employees shift
energy and focus from working on real life issues that affect customers
to resentment and dissatisfaction towards management.

Effective Communication

Managers
who communicate openly and frequently build relationship and trust with
the team. They should not make team members guess what they’re thinking
but should tell them. Employees can feel that no news is bad news. A
lack of interaction erodes trust. Face to face interaction is the best
method to build trust.

To get Trust Managers Need to Give Trust

It
is important for a manager to create an environment of trust. This
begins by trusting others. It is more effective to assume employees are
trustworthy unless they prove otherwise rather than waiting to give
trust when they haven’t earned it. As team members come to feel they
are trusted by their manager, they will find it easier to trust in
return.

Be Honest

Honesty is a very important factor that
affects trust. Managers who demonstrate openness about their actions,
intentions and vision, soon find that people respond positively to self
disclosure and sincerity. As a manager share good and bad news openly.
This can eliminate gossip and diffuse inappropriate politics. Great
managers know that they are not perfect and they make mistakes. It is
better for a manager to admit mistakes rather than ignore them or cover
them up. A cover up (perceived or real) is probably the greatest single
enemy to trust.

Establish Strong Business Ethics

Managers
need to set moral values for the work place. Teams with common ethics
are healthier, more productive, adaptable, responsive, and resourceful
because they are united under one common value set.

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 foster trust. If a manager neglects to make actions
visible to the team it can create the impression/perception that they
don’t follow through.

Keep Interactions Consistent and Predictable

Building
trust is a process. Trust results from consistent and predictable
interaction over time. If a manager responds differently from week to
week it becomes harder to trust him or her.

Set the Tone for the Future from the Beginning

The initial actions of the manager establish norms and expectations. A manager should lead by example.

Be Accessible and Responsive

Find
ways to be regularly available to team members. When interacting, be
responsive. Unresponsiveness causes unease and distrust. Be action
rather than talk oriented. Don’t just think about taking action-do it!

Maintain Confidences

Team
members need to be able to express concerns, identify problems, share
sensitive information, and surface relevant issues. It is important
early on to get agreement as to how confidential data will be handled.

Watch your Language

It
is important that a manager’s language does not imply “us” or “them”.
Terminology should be easy to understand. Leaders should stick with
business language and not use strong or vulgar language.

Create Social time for the Team

A
lot of trust and confidence is built through informal social
interaction. Successful managers ensure that social opportunities
happen regularly.

Building trust with employees is critical for
creating an effective team that works well together. Taking time to
build trust will reap benefits for managers that last a long time.

Barbara White trains and coaches individuals and organizations towards
excellence in management and leadership skills More articles about
Business Management Skills

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