Increasing Levels of Trust in the Organization

What would you say if I told you that you could create an environment in your organization to have "74% less stress,?106% more energy at work,?50% higher productivity,?13% fewer sick days,?76% more engagement,?29% more satisfaction with their lives and?40% less burnout"? (Zak, 2017)

In his research on Trust spanning over a decade Paul J. Zak found that the presence of oxytocin in the brain reduced the fear of trusting strangers. Based on this, he ran a survey on trust in organizations and developed a framework for managers to build trust. Drawing from his work, here are my thoughts on the behaviours managers and organizations need to inculcate and exhibit to build trust within the organization.

1. Believe in your team members' ability to do and want to do the work - Understand their capabilities and set goals that are challenging but achievable. After these goals are set, "provide autonomy" to your team members but follow up with coaching and support.

2. Ensure that everybody has access to information and decision making is transparent.

3. Spend time one on one and as an organization developing real relationships within and across levels.

4. Ensure the leaders are authentic, real and humble and have a strong enough core to admit when they are wrong and where they need help.

5. "Recognize excellence" and ensure that everyone has the ability to develop themselves in different areas (not just functional).

In this post pandemic world of #stress , #burnout , #quietquitting organizations need to actively focus on ensuring that they build levels of trust by trusting and supporting their employees more.

You can read all about Paul Zak's brilliant research and original article here: https://hbr.org/2017/01/the-neuroscience-of-trust?registration=success