Every organisation consists of a complex network of strategic relationships that coordinate work through making promises to one another. Even if we are talking about 10 or 10,000 employees, people need to rely on each other, in order to exchange information, ideas, services and goods.
Creating a high trust culture boils down to every employee knowing they can rely on every person around them. When employees trust management and the organisation, they are more willing to collaborate, share information, support each other and find ways to create synergy. It means everyone is committed to performing at a high level and helping their peers achieve as well.
Why is that successful and well-managed companies struggle with change and disruptive innovation? Too often, what got companies to where they are now, isn’t what will get them to the future. Established organisations continue to do the same things, in the same way, every day, that they don’t realise that these habits no longer translate into future success. Over time, their focus morphs into managing risk, rather than managing potential opportunities. The fall out is accidentally managing themselves into brand oblivion.
One of the indicators of a low trust culture is that gossip rules the airwaves. All you have to do is walk into the kitchen and you will hear employees gossiping about their boss or one of their peers. It might seem harmless, but it points to a culture that is hard to shift. That’s because people are more comfortable with complaining than actually doing anything to improve the situation. Excuses and blame abound.
With the rate of change and uncertainty in the world, CEOs think about trust regularly – no matter the size of their organisation.
Globalisation, the gig economy, and automation are greatly changing our daily work. According to The Foundation for Young Australian’s research, today’s young people will need to work more independently and rely less on receiving explicit instructions and dedicated teaching. This shift will require entrepreneurial skills such as problem-solving, collaboration, resilience, communication, and integrative leadership.
In today’s fast-paced business world, the more trust you have across your organisation, the faster you can operate.
One of the things that both chairs and executives tell me with pride is how their leadership team functions so well together. Interestingly, most of these teams have been together for five or more years.
Thanks to our biological programming our brains like certainty and feeling safe. When things change and we become unsure, we operate from our survival brain. This is isn’t a thinking brain, but one that acts subconsciously based on patterns, habits and biases. The result is we make decisions based on fear and a limited perspective on what’s available to us.