Creating Trust in the Workplace

The first step in creating the Relationship Base that all performance is built on is Creating Trust. There are several models for how we earn trust, this is the most effective we have found for applying in the workplace.

We have had clients say to us, “I want you to teach my managers and supervisors how they can build trust.” Statements like this highlight one of the most misunderstood things about trust. Leaders often think of trust as something that they can control; they don’t. They can't build it, they must earn trust, it is given, and the person giving it controls when it is given and to what extent.

The formula in the cover image above helps us understand how we can earn trust. This formula comes from the work of Maister, Green and Galford?in their book, The Trusted Advisor. Understanding this trust formula highlights that there are four distinct realms that we are tuned into and assess to help us make decisions about how much we should trust someone.?

Table 1.?Trust Realms

The trust formula above is very useful for understanding how we manage interactions at the individual level. Who the leader is being in their interactions has a significant impact on their perceived trustworthiness. Are they being credible, are they reliable? Are they capable of an effective level of intimacy—having meaningful conversations of what is real, what’s needed, what’s causing concern? Are they capable of being a servant leader and putting the team’s needs first or are they just self-oriented?

When working with groups, leaders need to be able to earn trust—but also create psychological safety. To do this effectively leaders need to understand group dynamics. A good way to think of the difference is that trust influences a person’s decisions about how vulnerable they are willing to be when interacting with another person. Psychological safety is created by what a leader or team members say and do in their team and the group; it influences how someone feels in a given situation.

The above is an excerpt from the Amazon #1 bestselling book, Safety Performance Reimagined - A 4D Approach to Organizational Performance.

You can read more about how leaders create sustainable safety performance in our book. It's currently on sale at 50% off and is available on all Amazon sites, including:

Amazon Australia?https://lnkd.in/gyJM2hj

?Amazon US?https://lnkd.in/gx_g3xb

?Amazon UK?https://lnkd.in/gHwx7CN

About the Author

Brett Read is Vice President-Australia for Safemap International and is the creator of 4D Safety? and 4D Tracker, a leadership software and dashboard, that drives safety performance to create injury free operations. 4D Safety enables organizations to measure, monitor and develop safety leadership capabilities. His experience spans leadership roles in the Australian SAS where he served as a Major and as an operations and business manager for two multi-national companies.

Brett understands risk and human factors and what it takes to safely lead operations in high risk environments. This understanding was developed throughout his career working in high risk environments and as a qualified senior sky-diving instructor responsible for running drop zone operations, as a qualified wreck and deep diver, diving on wartime wrecks in the Pacific. Brett has competed in various levels of Motorsport including tarmac rally and is also an accredited Motorsport Event Commander and Competition Manager. Brett’s experience has enabled him to develop a detailed understanding of the leadership practices required to create injury free operations in hazardous work environments.

He has twenty plus years of global consulting and coaching experience specializing in safety leadership and the development of high performance teams in the oil & gas, mining and construction industries. He has pioneered new thinking and research based approaches to safety performance which has enabled clients to achieve consecutive years of Lost Time Injury (LTI) free operations.

Brett is an author and regular conference speaker in the areas of Safety Leadership and Sustainable Safety Culture Change. His passion is for safety performance improvement through leadership, team culture and organizational development strategies.