Building Trust: What to Weed Out

By Linda Fisher Thornton

I was weeding in the garden this week, and I discovered two new weeds that were taller than I was. I started thinking about how quickly things can get away from us, in the garden and in our organizations. There are actions we must take to build a high trust workplace. But there are equally important things that we must prevent or weed out for trust to flourish.

What are the things that can get away from us if not corrected quickly? What can damage the trust we have worked so hard to build? What do we need to weed out for trust to flourish?

A “Weed Out” List For Trust Building

• Needing to be “right”
• Being too busy to listen
• Saying one thing and doing another
• Treating people like “resources” rather than humans
• Being disrespectful to any one or any group
• Selectively praising only favorite employees
• Blaming instead of resolving the problem
• Correcting employees in public
• Withholding information from people who need it to be successful
• Asking people to do something you are not willing to do
• Vague values
• Mixed messages (“use the highest ethics” AND “do whatever it takes to make the numbers”)
• Oversimplified conversations about ethics (which leaves it to individual discretion)
• Fear-based or controlling leadership
• Failure of leaders to learn and grow as times change
• Not listening to employees who want to improve processes and results
• Using profit-centered (instead of values-centered) leadership
• Ignoring work complexity and leaving people to “figure it out”
• Status-based communication (top down, don’t ask questions)
• Using cause-and-effect thinking in a systems world
• Generating high stress situations (without providing support for employee well-being)

I realize now that this list could go on… and on…. What else do you think we should “weed out” to build and nurture high trust cultures?

 

For more, see Linda’s book 7 Lenses and the 21 Question Assessment: How Current is My Message About Ethics?

2014  Bronze Axiom Business Book Award Winner 

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