This Thing Called Trust, Part I

Trust is a curious thing. On one hand, trust is an amazingly resilient belief capable of surviving the most horrific attacks. It can be bent, stretched, twisted, and pushed to often unreasonable limits. Yet it recovers and regains strength repeatedly. When strong, trust enables us to overlook the flaws and foibles of others, especially our employer. It helps us remain steadfast in our views of work, our coworkers, those above us, those below us, and the very company within which we spend the majority of our day. It fuels our drive to perform. It enables us to defend the energy, determination and commitment we give to our employer. It protects us. It provides hope.

On the other hand, trust is a remarkably delicate thing, prone to destruction with just one perfectly placed remark or action. That same multifaceted, complex cognition that can withstand a ferocious onslaught is also fully capable of shattering fatally into thousands of tiny pieces, never again to be rebuilt. Once destroyed, it forever changes our beliefs of work, the workplace, and especially the company for which we toil. And not in a good way. For the loss of trust undermines our resolve, our dedication, our willingness to do all that it takes to perform at an outstanding level. Lack of trust has a nasty way of causing us to question the very purpose of our effort at work. It undermines our desire to expend the additional, discretionary effort most jobs require. You know trust is an issue when you or others ask, "What's the point?" and/or "What am I doing here?" Worse still, the loss of trust kills passion.

Resilient, yet delicate. Strong, yet prone to destruction. Ethereal yet concrete. And the kicker? Trust is an absolutely essential element of success at work.

You'd think company leadership would be more concerned about it, given trust's central role in strong bottom-line performance. And while leadership may be interested in maintaining if not bolstering trust in their people, the actions of many suggest otherwise. Here it's not about intention. It's about behavior -- specific, observable acts that affect one's level of trust.

Sadly, as employees throughout the country will tell you, there's been plenty of bad behavior to go around over the last few years, including:

• Communicating without full honesty about the company's true state of affairs (even if the intention was to 'protect' employees from the truth)
  
• Layoffs that cut to and into the bone
  
• Reductions in hours, pay and/or benefits
• Budget cuts that curtail training or other career development opportunities
  
• Job restructurings that increase responsibilities without a commensurate increase in pay
• Loss of merit increases and/or bonuses
• Promises made but not kept (often about promotions)
• Anything that hints at or actually says, "You should feel lucky to have your job."
  
• Record profits (largely due to significant budget cuts) without a return of at least some of the recent takeaways
  

And that's just some of the myriad actions that have reduced or killed trust and, in turn, significantly reduced the potential for companies to perform brilliantly. Sit with people at work as we do daily and the stories will curl your hair. Also striking is the sheer volume of people who claim to have at least one foot out the door. Without doubt, souls are being crushed and many are looking to leave. (For some background on the crushing of souls in the workplace, see our blog of February 19, 2012, The SCQ.)

So, what's to be done? A terrific question, one every company should be asking now that the economy is on the mend and the job market is reemerging. Any company filled with people should be concerned with this thing called trust. Any company interested in keeping its top talent and performing well in the market, that is. And we think the answer may surprise you.

Come back next week. We'll talk.