Building trust in your work environment... something few set out to do, and yet it's the very thing that often is at the root of conflict and even at the heart of losing good employees. In my last post, I suggested four ways to build trust in your teams. Let's take a look at two more.
5.) Never Assume. We make assumptions all the time. For example, I know a woman that is kindhearted, always smiling, and encourages the socks off from people she knows all the time. One would naturally assume that she's living a happy and fulfilled life that simply overflows into the lives around her. But the truth is she is in a miserable marriage and has a very broken relationship with her daughter and is crushed in spirit about these things. Of course, more often we often assume things that are detrimental to our relationships; we receive a sour look and assume the other person is upset with us, or we assume that our friends' marriage is without flaw, so we find more flaws in our own as we wonder why we can't have it so good, etc. So remember, the only good time to assume is when we are assuming that the other person speaking has good intentions. Otherwise, just like mama taught us,
Don't judge a book by its cover.
6.) Communicate. Communicate. Communicate. This is so important that I teach an entire class on developing dynamic communication skills! So often if we'd just take the time to openly, honestly and thoughtfully dialogue with our team members, we would infuse our teams with trust and confidence. It begins with understand WHO our audience is and HOW they perceive us/our information, so understanding the dynamics of your team members is critical. Because the truth is that we usually communicate in a way that WE would understand, but instead we would do better to communicate in a way that THEY would receive the information more effectively.
It doesn't matter what I say, it matters what you hear.
It's a mistake to assume that our team members think and process the same way that we do. Personality profiling can really shed some light on how to better communicate effectively in a world full of people that aren't... well, that aren't ME! . Which can lead to a team with a foundation of trust. Which can lead to some happy and productive days in the office. And let's face it, don't we all want that?
There are six ways to consider building trust into your work environment. And if we apply these same six principles to our homes, just imagine what we could do there, too!
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Photo Credit: CC Image "Trust" courtesy of Harrry Powers - Boston on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)