Building Trust Yields Rewards

Employees in high-trust organizations are more productive, more energetic, collaborate better, suffer less stress and stay with their employers longer. So affirms research conducted by Paul J. Zak, founding director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies, Professor of Economics, Psychology, and Management at Claremont Graduate University, and CEO of Immersion Neuroscience. Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Zak identifies eight measurable behaviors that foster trust:

1. Recognize excellence: Neuroscience shows this has most impact on trust when it occurs right after a goal has been met, when it comes from peers, and when it’s tangible, unexpected, personal, and public.
2. Induce “challenge stress”: When a team tackles a difficult but achievable task, the moderate stress releases neurochemicals that intensify focus and strengthen social connections.
3. Give people discretion: Once trained, allow employees the opportunity to manage people and execute projects on their own.
4. Enable job crafting: Trust employees to choose which projects they’ll work on—focusing energies on what they care about most.
5. Share information broadly: Organizations that share their plans with employees reduce uncertainty about where they are headed and why.
6. Intentionally build relationships: When people intentionally build social ties at work, their performance improves.
7. Facilitate whole-person growth: Acquiring new work skills is a plus, but investing in the whole person has a powerful effect on engagement and retention.
8. Show vulnerability: Ask for help from colleagues instead of continually being the one with the answers.

 
“Ultimately,” Zak says, “you cultivate trust by setting a clear direction, giving people what they need…and getting out of their way.”
 
Does your organization inspire trust, and how does that affect performance? To join the conversation, click "comments" above. 

---