Work Wonders
Back in late 2021, we decided that instead of chatting to each other about the challenges and triumphs of people management in small businesses, we should invite you to join the conversation. And the Work Wonders podcast was born! Managing people is serious business. We bring you all the latest, practical advice without the pain. The podcast is brought to you by Aster HR https://www.asterhr.com.au/ and your hosts are Angela Gauci and Susan Rochester
Work Wonders
S5 Ep 6: Trust is key
In this episode, we dive into the critical topic of trust in the workplace. We explore what trust is, why it's essential, how to create and rebuild it when needed.
Trust is the belief that colleagues will act with integrity and competence, doing what they say they will do. Creating a high-trust environment involves collaboration, effective communication, and psychological safety where employees feel safe to speak up.
You can find the show notes for this episode here
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Brought to you by Aster HR, the Work Wonders Podcast is hosted by Angela Gauci & Susan Rochester and is recorded at Launch Pad at Western Sydney University.
All information or advice included in this podcast is general, has been developed as a starting point for your business, and should be tailored to your specific requirements. It should not be considered legal advice. We have made every attempt to ensure the accuracy and currency of this information at the time of recording. However, references to things like employment laws are subject to change. For specific advice relating to your business, please get in touch with us.
Welcome to the Work Wonders podcast brought to you by Asta HR, where we simplify the human side of business. I'm Angela.
Speaker 2:And I'm Susan. Let's dive into today's episode and find out what you've been wondering about. In today's episode, we're talking all about trust. This is such an important aspect of professional life trust in the workplace. So what is it? Why is it important? How can you create it? How can you rebuild it if you need to All those sorts of things we're going to be diving into today. So let's get started. This is a Work Wonders podcast.
Speaker 1:Hello Angela, Hi Susan, so we're talking about trust today, which is a really important one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, actually this is an episode that's been on our list probably since we started, and we've touched on it in various places, and particularly in our interviews with our guests.
Speaker 1:Yes, I remember particularly the one with Selena. Yeah, that came up quite a bit through that conversation. So trust why is it important in a workplace? Let's define what we're talking about here.
Speaker 2:Well, look, what is trust? What do we mean by that? What isn't it?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So you were telling me earlier the story from Simon.
Speaker 1:Sinek. Oh yes, I love Simon Sinek. I don't know if any of our listeners do, but I follow him a lot and he often talks about a story with the US Marines that he's worked with quite a bit and he compares their preference for trust within their team or likeness you know, whether someone likes you and getting on and they say that the trust is so much more important for them than liking someone. He even gave examples about how they've just sacked people because the trust isn't there. So it's that important to them. It's a critical factor to what they're doing as a team.
Speaker 2:So it's not about you know we're friendly and we get on. That's a bonus. Bonus, that would be great, but it's about whether you can rely on that person or your team to do what they say they're going to do absolutely.
Speaker 1:It's the ethics of it and knowing like love me or hate me. I can trust you in a life or death situation yeah, so we, so we're talking about, you know.
Speaker 2:Do we believe that our colleagues or our team members are going to act with integrity?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And they're going to be competent about what they're doing. They're not just going to say I can do this or I will do this. We can trust them that that will happen.
Speaker 1:And I don't think it's something that happens overnight. I think it takes a while for that to build.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so what would you see as a high trust environment? What would be the things that you would observe if you were looking as an outsider?
Speaker 1:There would be some obvious things like with my HR hat on, you wouldn't be seeing as many incidents of you know misconduct or you know disagreements between employees and all that sort of nastiness and having to deal with all those yucky things that can happen with relationships.
Speaker 2:So you'd like to think they'd be more collaborative with each other?
Speaker 1:I can see a team that's, yeah, getting on well, not necessarily loving to hang out together, but, you know, doing their job well and working well together, communicating well, but also an environment where people feel safe to speak up.
Speaker 2:Yes, exactly that whole psychological safety thing, which you know, we know underlies innovation and also quality. You know people are willing to say I made a mistake.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:They need to be able to trust that other people aren't going to. You know there's not going to be negative consequences for speaking up.
Speaker 1:So it's a vital part to any workplace. It can influence everything from the way you interact from a person to person level or as a team daily, through to if your organisation or business can actually achieve the goals you're setting out to do Absolutely I was thinking even the simplest act like handing over a piece of work from one person to another person and being able to trust that that's going to be handled properly.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Well. If you think of any other sort of team, like a sports team, fundamentally they're trying to do the same thing. They're all working together to try and reach the goal of winning the game or whatever it may be.
Speaker 2:Well, I think you're thinking, for example, if I'm going to kick the ball there, I need to be able to trust that you're going to be there to get it when it gets there.
Speaker 1:Yes, exactly, thank you for finishing my point. I can trust you to do that.
Speaker 2:Good one, and you know, as usual, communication is key.
Speaker 1:There it is.
Speaker 2:We should have a count to how many times we say that. Maybe some of our listeners do.
Speaker 1:Oh, here they go again.
Speaker 2:We're not talking about just passing on the message. We're talking about communicating in an open way, you know, being open to questions, being honest about what you're sharing. Yeah, respectful. Yeah, yeah, all of that, all of that building into trust.
Speaker 1:And being consistent as well. Consistent and transparent. Yes, Doing what you say you're going to do.
Speaker 2:I think builds trust. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Easier said than done. I think it's such a cliche that thing, almost isn't it.
Speaker 2:It's the old walk the talk.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but if you can be, you know, trusted to do what you say you're going to do, there's an expectation there that you're going to do it because it builds that, you know, expectation, because you've always done it that way.
Speaker 2:Well, there's always an expectation that you're going to do it. But whether you do or not, is where the trust comes in.
Speaker 1:That's a good point.
Speaker 2:Are you building trust or destroying trust by saying you're going to do something?
Speaker 1:That's a very good point. Are you enjoying today's topic and want to keep the conversation going? Well, you can learn more from us through our online workshops, where we delve a little deeper into HR questions or concerns, or we even help explain the changes to things like legislation. To see what's coming up, go to the events page on our website, asthrcomau, and save your seat. For now, it's back to the episode.
Speaker 2:So, in terms of building trust, we talked about communication, open dialogue. What sort of other things can happen in an organisation to help build trust, do you think?
Speaker 1:Well, I think having that open sort of two-way communication, accepting feedback. So if you think about the role of a manager, if they're brave enough to say look in a meeting or in any sort of setting, if they're brave enough to say what do you think about this?
Speaker 2:Is there?
Speaker 1:another way that we should approach this. What are you seeing, what have you heard? What's new in the industry, what's our customers saying? And being brave enough to get the whole picture from all the members of the team and the good and the bad feedback. And if you're having that sort of environment where it's a group collaboration as opposed to a meeting, that's like right doing it this way. Don't ask me why just do it. I mean, I can tell you which one I'd prefer.
Speaker 2:I mean, I can tell you which one I'd prefer. Yeah, trust really comes into that, doesn't it? Yeah, because people need to be able to trust you, to give you that information and know that you'll handle it properly and not, you know, fly off the handle because they've said something negative, for example.
Speaker 1:Yeah, ultimately, if you're going to trust someone to do a job for you, you know you want X, y and Z done from your employee. They need to be able to trust you to do that as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's what I mean, yeah it's a two way street, so you know what we're doing here. Are we really doing what we say we're doing for our clients or our customers? You know, does my job really have purpose? Do you really value what I'm doing? If an employee can answer those questions with confidence and feel assured that they're doing a great job and it's all going the right way, then yeah, I think that helps to build trust.
Speaker 2:So I was going to say so let's talk about what destroys trust, but it's really the opposite of all of the above isn't it really?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it takes a long. I think it's a long hard slog to build trust and it doesn't happen overnight. I think it's something that's built in small moments.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know. I think some people you just have this instantaneous thing where you can feel that their trust was. But yeah, in general I agree it is something that has to be built up over time.
Speaker 1:But breaking trust, I think that can absolutely happen in an instant. Oh true, more to the point, rebuilding it after having had it broken would take it's a lot longer than just building it from the beginning.
Speaker 2:If that's even possible. True, Very very true, so, assuming that it is possible, it's like most things that we talk about. You need to act straight away. Once you're aware that there's been a breach of trust, don't ignore it.
Speaker 1:There's a certain element of vulnerability to what we're talking about as well, because, as a manager or a business owner, if you can be vulnerable enough to show not just a professional side of yourself, not just the boss man side of yourself, you know, but actually be real with people.
Speaker 1:Like you say, be consistent, do what you say you're going to do all those things. If you're showing that and really walking the talk with people, that's going to be so much easier for them to pick up and trust. I mean, how many times have we heard it said that you really can tell when someone's being disingenuous? Yes, it's so easy to pick up, isn't it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I think it's also about understanding the impact of that when trust has been broken, and acknowledging that you know say yeah, I'm sorry, I stuffed up yeah, being willing to apologize if you've done something that could break trust.
Speaker 1:Yeah that can be really hard for people, but I think you have to go there. I don't think you've got another option.
Speaker 2:When, when the trust is broken because, well, if you want the relationship to continue, yeah, so it's about taking the time to do that and being consistent in your efforts.
Speaker 1:Yeah, these are not necessarily easy, comfortable things to do as a manager. I think there might be a few listeners that might be thinking, oh, that's a bit hard. Can I just do it the easy way? You? Should see the expression on Angela's face as she's doing that dear listener, you know, and I sympathise with you, because it's not always easy. It's easier to kind of go well, I'm the boss.
Speaker 2:Do it. But I think you know it's also from an employee's perspective it's often hard to acknowledge when you've done the wrong thing. You know, because if the culture is not there of that trustworthiness, that psychological safety, it can be rather tricky to go oops.
Speaker 1:Well, let me paint you this little picture and just go with me see what you think, but with my children in the way that I parent them, and I mean no way comparing the workplace to parenting. But just go with me.
Speaker 2:Oh, no, no, no, we wouldn't do that.
Speaker 1:But if I expect them to give me 100% every day of the week, 365 days a year, I think I'd be disappointed. But if they don't feel safe enough and can trust me enough to come to me and go. Mom, I made a mistake, Exactly I did this or that my job is to help them learn.
Speaker 1:I want to see them flourish and do really well is to help them learn. I want to see them flourish and do really well. So if I can allow them to trust me, they feel safe to tell me when they've mucked up well, then there's an opportunity to learn and I can help them with that.
Speaker 2:That's much better than not knowing when something's been stuffed up, isn't it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And bringing it back to the workplace, yes, or even with your children.
Speaker 1:But I just, yeah, there's sort of something there that made me think. With a manager it's a little bit like that where you want to have an environment where, look, you don't want people to muck up, you don't want a mistake to be made, but it can happen. We're all human. And so that's an opportunity, then, to go well, great. What can we do about that? You know, how can we stop that from happening again, or whatever it may be.
Speaker 2:Which reminds me one great quality to have as a manager is curiosity. Yeah, so really getting to know your team and what they need.
Speaker 1:Yeah, getting to know them more than just what you do on the weekend.
Speaker 2:That's right, so understanding their strengths, understanding the challenges that they might be facing and taking that time to build that trust.
Speaker 1:And thinking about what they need to do their job. You know more than just a computer and a phone or a car. But, you know, is there something that might be stopping them from achieving what you ask them to achieve? Maybe you weren't aware that that system doesn't do that that you're asking, or I don't know. I'm just coming up with something there. But yeah, so let's recap then on trust Number one definitely very important Good.
Speaker 2:That's a key takeaway. And it's funny because sometimes you know things like this. You think, oh yeah, well, that's a given isn't it, and we'd like to think that it is, but it's quite often the things that are the most obvious that can really fall down if you're not paying attention to them.
Speaker 1:And if you haven't got it yet from our content and our episodes, you're dealing with people here. Yeah, exactly, and fundamentally it's human relationships, which is never easy anyway, is it no?
Speaker 2:So to build trust, then you're going to be communicating. There's the whole integrity, that's a whole idea of having a culture where people feel confident to speak up and trust you as much as you can trust them, and a lot of that comes down to clarity about your expectations and applying whatever in the workplace, be it your rules or your procedures, and applying that consistently so that people know exactly where they stand.
Speaker 1:Because it is a two-way street. If you're giving that to your employees, you're going to get that back from them. You're going to get back a really high-performing team. If you've got trust in your workplace, you will see results from what you're asking of them.
Speaker 2:I'm just thinking it's paradoxical, really, isn't it? Because by trusting people to do the job, you're also proving yourself to be trustworthy, yeah true?
Speaker 1:Well, there was a lot there. I wonder what you got from that today. Let us know, we'd love to know.
Speaker 2:If you're curious about exploring trust in the workplace even further, we'll add some links to relevant articles in the show notes. So what role has trust played in your business and in your working career? What experiences have you had when it hasn't worked and can?
Speaker 1:you trust your employees? Do you feel like you can? Do you think your employees feel like they could trust you, or is there areas there where you think you could do a little better?
Speaker 2:And if there are, keep at it. Like we said it's time and consistency Can always be improved.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to the Work Wonders podcast brought to you by Asta HR. Hit the subscribe button now to never miss an episode, and if you'd like to continue the conversation with us, you can find us over at astahrcomau. See you in the next episode.
