Recovering trust is now your highest priority.
As we slowly re-emerge from remote work and isolation, is your team strong and highly engaged? What we’re repetitively hearing from leaders is a loss of trust among their team. Here’s what you can do about it.
This pandemic has assaulted your team’s sense of safety and connection and, by proxy, has injured their basic trust. Coming out of this, we’re all a little unsure of what to trust.
Vulnerability-based trust is a cornerstone of organizational health. It creates an atmosphere that makes room for debate and healthy conflict around ideas and concepts. When team members deeply trust one another, they can pursue innovative results free from the drama of personality conflicts and interoffice politics. To help restore your team’s organizational health, your leadership focus now needs to be in recovering their trust—specifically the kind of trust that serves as the foundation of team health.
How Loss of Trust Impacts Your ROI
As trust dips, time and expense go up. Remember the ease of airport security prior to 9/11—arriving 45 minutes before a flight and breezing from the front door to the gate in minutes? Today’s arrival process quickly displays the ROI impact of loss of trust. Those attacks gave birth to an expensive, time-consuming process of enforcing extensive security measures—to regain trust.
Trust is crucial for your organization’s health. When your team functions from a deep foundation of trust, costs are reduced, both in time spent to execute tasks and to resolve issues from poor communication and uncertainty.
How to Lead Your Team out of the Pandemic
These two simple practices will accelerate your team’s recovery of trust and boost organizational health.
Share stories.
People need to know that what they’ve experienced matters.
We’ve all had to demonstrate unusual agility. Most have met the challenge and made life work inside severe disruptions, and they have a story to tell. When you ask for, and really hear, your team’s stories, you communicate appreciation and value. Take it another step and share your story. Give your time to express vulnerability, and you’ll generate significant ROI in your team’s health.
Ask questions that encourage vision and innovation.
Great leaders don’t waste trials; they look for the valuable lessons. In the midst of disruption, your team will have valuable insights for your organization’s future. Ask these questions to illuminate those ideas and to mine innovation. You’ll communicate hope and a sense of safety in the future as a byproduct.
- “What is this season telling us about our business?”
- “What does this disruptive season make possible?”
- “What changes have we implemented that will continue to benefit us in the future?”
The Health of Your Organization Is Vital
The pandemic’s effect on your team members’ sense of safety and trust cannot be overstated. Do yourself and your team a favor. Invest in their recovery and the future of your organization’s health by making the restoration of trust your highest priority.
Lead well!
Bill
We Can Help You Recover the Trust of Your Team
Recovering trust takes work. If your team’s sense of safety and connection is suffering, we can help.
Contact us for a complimentary consultation. We’ll discuss your specific challenge and offer simple solutions you can implement today.
