A Culture of Trust Boosts Employee Performance

If employees don’t trust a company’s leaders, they won’t feel safe—and when they don’t feel safe, they spend all their creative energy covering their -- selves. They don’t take risks. And where there is no risk, there is less innovation and less “going the extra mile.”

John Hamm, author of Unusually Excellent, says “Without trust, people respond with distraction, fear, or paralysis.” This produces behaviors like sandbagging quotas, hedging on goals, and avoiding commitment.”

He says leaders become trustworthy by building a track record of honesty, fairness, and integrity. Cultivating trust isn’t just a moral issue; it’s a practical one. Most employees have been hurt or disappointed at some point in their careers by a leader. That’s why leaders are often in “negative trust territory” from the start.

Hamm offers these tips on building trust:

Model trustworthiness. This doesn’t mean you must be warm and personable if that’s not your personality. On the contrary, many trustworthy people can be harsh, tough, or socially awkward. But promises must be inviolate and decisions fair. People who can be trusted are more likely to gain the respect of others than the nicest guy in the room, says Hamm. “You can be authentically whoever you really are. As long as you are fair, as long as you do what you say consistently, you will still be trusted.”

Reveal vulnerability. Allow others to see authentic (not fabricated) weakness or emotion. This helps people relate to one another.

Be transparent. Tell the truth, match your actions with your words, and match those words with the truth we all see in the world: no spin, no justifications, no revisionist history.

Allow good failures. Hamm says punishing failure is one of the stupidest things organizations do, and it happens all the time. “Good failure” is a term used in Silicon Valley to describe a business or initiative that is well planned, well run, and well organized—yet for reasons beyond its control, fails. Good failures occur when you play well but lose. Punishing employees for good failures instills a fear of risk-taking, and stifles innovation.

Instead, says Hamm, strive for a “digital camera” culture. There is no expense associated with an imperfect digital photograph. Just hit delete, and it disappears. No wasted film. So people take many more digital photos than they would with film. If failure is “free,” we take chances, and can get that one amazing picture that we wouldn’t have if we were paying for all the mistakes.

Allow people to bring bad news. Shooting the messenger results in messengers who won’t bring the information you need. They’ll protect their -- selves. Instill confidence that leaders value facts, truth, and speed of delivery over judgments of good or bad.

Beware shortcuts. When victory or failure is in sight, there is a vulnerability to abandoning values in the name of expediency. That can set a precedent and lead to corner-cutting even in operations that aren’t at a critical stage. Plus, when employees see you betraying your values, they see you as less trustworthy.

Recognize whom to coach and whom to let go. You cannot “fix” a thief, a pathological liar, or a con artist. “There are three failure modes that I will decline to coach: integrity, commitment, and chronic selfishness—manipulating outcomes for individual gain,” says Hamm. These are character traits, not matters of knowledge.

But that doesn’t mean we can doubt or distrust someone because their performance disappoints, he adds. “Performance problems should be managed fairly and with little judgment of the person’s character, unless that is the root of the trouble.”

 “Everyone fails to achieve perfection,” Hamm says. So a leader’s goal is to make wrong choices rarely; admit them quickly, completely, and with humility; fix them quickly; and make full recompense when possible.

In a working environment of trust, Hamm says, teams stay focused, give their utmost effort, and do their best work.”

Do you have expert advice to share? E-mail Kristen.