Building Trust within Your Work Team

Managers have primary responsibility for shaping the culture of their work unit. They may take an active or inactive approach in shaping that culture. And their action or inaction can be positive or negative. This combination of approach and result can be healthy or unhealthy for the work team. Just imagine the manager who takes an active role in shaping the culture, but whose actions usually are negative! Better to have an inactive manager!

Employee work relationships are a critical factor that affects and reflects the work environment including productivity and camaraderie. The relationships are strongly affected by the manager's cultural impact. Cultivating an environment based on trust will enhance those work relationships resulting in true growth, long-term productivity and esprit de corps of the unit.

Managers sometimes forget or ignore the importance of building trust because of their power over their teams. While every organization is different, managers must determine the better paths to trust-building in their organization and unit. Here are some key questions:

Questions for Managers about Building Trust

• My unit's foundation of trust is: high, average, low?
• How responsible do I feel for the level of trust in my unit?
• What opportunity costs does my unit incur if the unit's trust level is weak?
• If I am not building trust within my team, what factors are preventing this development?
• What positive outcomes would result if our unit's level of trust was better?
• How could day-to-day activities be used to help build a better foundation of trust?
• What activities can I delegate to my team to help them contribute to building better trust?
• What 2-3 actions could I take in the short-run to increase the trust among team members?

At Henle Management, LLC, we understand how these issues affect the business world and can assist your organization in designing and implementing effective workforce programs.