Making the Case for Growing Trust to Improve Organization Performance!

I would like to address the important topic of Trust between leaders and their employees. My goal is to make the case for why the element of Trust is so important in organizations and to offer some initial suggestions on actions you can take to foster it.

I believe that Trust is probably the most important topic associated with the success or failure of any organization. Organization research confirms this, and if you have had any experience in dealing with the relational challenges of developing and promoting productivity in organizations, you have found that Trust or lack of Trust is at the core of every hindrance. John Whitney, a professor at Columbia Business School shared that Trust is the one thing that affects everything. Therefore, for improving organizational performance, it is the most important strategic lever leadership has. Steven Covey in his book ‘The Speed of Trust’ says it this way, “Trust is the one thing that changes everything.”

Because loyalty is an outcome of Trust, research also confirms the following:

Other business–relevant things that are prevalent in high Trust organizations include:

So, I hope this information helps to make my case for why Trust is so important to nurture, grow and protect in organizations, especially in business organizations that have the goal of productivity, growth and profit. You as a leader have the responsibility to leverage this awesome resource to improve business performance and improve business results, but more importantly to foster a ‘secure’ nurturing environment, where employees have the best opportunity to fully engage, thrive and contribute their best.

I bring your attention to the word ‘secure,’ because security is the most important outcome of improving Trust in your relationship with your employees, due to the value this outcome represents to the human psyche. Security or being safe is a forerunner in the needs of humans both physically and psychologically. Maslow in his well–known ‘Hierarchy of Needs’ https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html defines safety and security as the highest need we have next to our basic needs of air, food, shelter, etc. A leader has to make satisfying the need of security and trust a critical priority to foster a organizational culture of high performance!!

Stand up and Lead!!

Dr Tim