Jody Urquhart All Work & No Say
SEVEN STEPS TO BUILDING A TRUSTING WORKPLACE
Step 1—Dialogue Most importantly, focus on opening th lines of communication. Get people talking and make it a safe atmosphere for employees to share their honest opinions. Discuss the importance of open communication with all leaders.
Step 2—Acknowledge the Unspeakable Do people hate the overtime policy? Do You have low morale at the office? Are Several managers abusing privileges? Touchy issues need to be resolved and openly discussed. Many employees will be quietly harboring ill feelings about such “unspeakable.”
It is essential to open the lines of communication. Be careful not to point fingers or place blame inappropriately. Stick to the facts: what’s been happening, why, and what you intend to do about it.
Step 3—Secrecy Breeds Suspicion
When information or activity is kept secret, It is open to misinterpretation, so communication is essential. Develop tools that help communicate what’s going on.
Regular email, meetings, newsletters, conference calls, or voicemail keep people In the know. Any new discussion or Planning should be shared with all employees sooner than later. Activate your Communication system to make information accessible.
Step 4—Keep Promises Make fewer and better agreements. Don’t Commit to something that you can’t follow through with. If you can’t honor an undertaking or proposal, then say so right away and renegotiate. Keep people in the know (e.g.: we are not going to be able to... and here’s why...).
Express your regrets and talk about what you plan to do about the problem. Communicate that everyone should be accountable; every level of staff should keep promises. Involve the whole group and advocate everyone’s accountability. Invest in commitments.
Step 5—Eliminate Ambiguous Behavior
Anything that isn’t necessary, or that you can’t justify, eliminate. There should be a sound purpose for all activities.
Step 6—Managers Need to Model Trust Is management consistent, predictable, and trustworthy? All managers should be evaluated along with staff.
Step 7—Rules Should Be Treated as Guidelines, Not Solutions Employee judgment should be valued to create trusting relationships.
Involve, Involve, Involve. If employees come to you with a concern, why not involve them in the solution? Let them gather a task force and come up with several possible solutions to present to management and other staff. The more involved the naysayers are, the more the problem becomes their own and they take responsibility for it (and the way they feel).
Implement each of the above seven steps in phases. The creation of an open trusting work environment that involves and includes employee input means that all feelings need to be heard, including criticism. Management must be prepared to welcome and handle employee criticism.
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