Trust Is the Glue (part 3)
“Trust is like the air we breathe — when it’s present, nobody really notices; when it’s absent, everybody notices.” Warren Buffet
First build a culture of trust in your workplace!
Easy to say; somewhat more challenging to achieve. Apparently cultural transformations are a tricky business. Only a relatively small percentage are unqualified successes. An HBR article describes transformation “as a fundamental shift in the way that an organization conducts business, resulting in economic or social impact”1 Cultural transformation requires changing both the individual and the collective state of mind. With a focus on their people during transformation, companies have a better chance at success.
Since “employee engagement (based in large part on trust) is a critical factor in achieving any kind of change”2, then it makes sense to ensure trust is established prior to initiating any type of transformation.
First of all, before you start finding the right building blocks, you need to know what the foundation looks like now. Start by taking stock of the existing trust bank account for leaders in your organization. What is the current level of trust among your organization’s teams/business units/clients?
You may not like the answers but ignoring a low leadership trust level is certain death for change. Low engagement, higher employee attrition rate, and/or clients taking their business elsewhere are just a few of the factors that will affect your sustainability. The challenge with a low or negative balance in your trust bank account, is that the employee engagement level to even fill in a survey is going to be marginal. If this isn’t supported by clear and believable communication from the top, then scratch it off your ‘to-do’ list. And remember this golden rule: after surveying employees, the worst thing an organization can do, is to do nothing.
Offering anonymous 360 degree feedback helps you assess which leaders have a high level of trustworthiness. Why and how have they earned this? What behaviors do they exhibit that have led to these higher scores? These leaders and others in your organization who are highly trusted will become your ambassadors for change. Engage them in supporting the changes which will be needed to make a transformation happen. This is backed by a McKinsey report:“[…] individuals in the business unit who have large, informal social networks and are trusted and respected by others for their transparency, institutional knowledge, and ability to make sense of change. […] contrary to beliefs held by most senior leaders, influencers are found at every level and tenure. Because others trust them, influencers are effective at soliciting and then aggregating others’ feedback about the transformation. And because they are well connected, influencers can amplify and create inspiration around important messages that would otherwise land flat coming from central communications.”3
A critical aspect of ensuring a successful transformation, lies then in finding these influencers. And it’s not going to happen overnight. There is no magic wand. It’s about the day-to-day implementation of values and behaviors, which build brick by brick on a solid foundation. It’s no wonder that such a change can take up to 5 years.4
One company that has successfully achieved a cultural transformation is Microsoft. Since 2014 their commitment to: “put people first, and to leading with empathy and respect, have led to an engaged workforce”5 It started at the top. The new CEO, Satya Narayana Nadella, together with executives and HR leaders came together. They created a new mission and vision that “better reflected the ideals of empathy, humanity, understanding of cultural differences, and Microsoft’s place in the world”. It took time but with diligent effort, the values were reflected in the halls, not just on the walls.
Please do think about what commitment you will make to create and enhance a culture of trust in your team and/or organization. Without this, your ‘structure’ is at worst doomed to collapse, or at best be a lesser version of success than what you desire.
Creating Waves is owned by Mary Jane Roy. She is an advisor, facilitator & presenter on topics supporting (age) diverse workforces in building healthy stress & resilience skills and strategies to increase their staying power and to thrive!
1 https://hbr.org/2021/09/the-secret-behind-successful-corporate-transformations
2 https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/how-long-does-it-take-to-improve-an-organizations-culture
4 https://www.insideboard.com/the-5-types-of-business-transformation/
5 https://hbr.org/2021/09/the-secret-behind-successful-corporate-transformations
