Building a Workplace Culture of Trust
There’s little doubt that workplace culture is the key driver of success in any business. Your culture is your number one competitive advantage when it comes to attracting and keeping top talent, attracting customers, and boosting innovation, sales and productivity. And one of the key values that both drives and reflects an inspiring culture is trust. You simply cannot sustain a healthy workplace relationship when trust is lacking. When trust is broken, or when there’s even just a perception that trust is missing, the costs are enormous. According to Edelman Trust Barometer 80% of people stop buying products or services 
from companies when trustworthiness comes into question. A lack of trust impacts your ability to attract employees and customers. It effects every aspect of your business and your culture. Morale plummets, stress soars and innovation becomes stifled. And it becomes substantially harder for leaders to influence or lead change in the workplace.
Conversely, cultures and leaders who are deemed trustworthy achieve enormous benefits that impact every bottom line financial aspect of an organization. You simple can’t afford to ignore the high costs associated with a lack of trust. Which is why great organizations and inspiring leaders are intentional hen it comes to building a great culture. They recognize that great cultures don’t just happen by accident! Which also means being intentional about leading with your values – especially when it comes to one as critical as trust, which has the potential to impact how ALL your values are perceived and acted upon.
Here are seven ways to make sure you are building trust in your workplace.
1. Actions Speak Louder Than Words. Trite perhaps, but hey, when you’re talking about trust the only way to build it is through actions. When you say you’re going to do something by a certain date, do it! (It’s not rocket surgery.) And if you want to build trust fast remember the old service delivery cliché: under promise and over deliver. If you always do a little extra than expected, your trust currency will soar.
2. Communicate With Candor. High-trust organizations are open books when it comes to communicating. Semler Industries, for example, saves a seat at their board meetings for any employee to attend. Their financial books are completely open to every employee. Open communication fosters trust; closed communication fosters an environment of fear and suspicion. And you simply cannot communicate enough if you are trying to retain trust during a period of rapid change or turmoil.
3. Communicate With Authenticity. We trust people when they seem to be the real deal. So anything you can do to come across as more human and genuine builds trust. Using plain language 
builds trust. Making eye contact, being present, being accessible, and actively listening builds trust.
4. Be Vulnerable. Some leaders fear that sharing fears and emotions might make them appear weak, whereas inspiring leaders understand that being vulnerable makes them stronger leaders and that being vulnerable builds trust.
5. Admit Your Weaknesses, Admit What You Don’t Know, or What You Can’t Do! The employee handbook for the software company Valve includes a page about what they don’t do very well. Help wanted ads that offer more realistic, brutally honest descriptions of the actual work, receive more applicants. Leaders who talk about their weaknesses tend to score higher on trust surveys. Companies such as Zappos, that routinely recommend competitors when they can’t fulfill an order, score through the roof when it comes to trust.
6. Say You’re Sorry. When you need to apologize, apologize. A fast and sincere apology can do wonders to either restore or maintain trust.
7. Have a Sense of Humor. Numerous studies have shown a positive correlation between humor and trust – we tend to trust people more who share an open, healthy sense of humor because humor helps us come across as more human and more real.
Michael Kerr is an international Hall of fame business speaker, trainer, and the author of seven books including, Hire, Inspire and Fuel Their Fire!
