Trust And Workplace Relationships

For many times, we have questioned ourselves about ‘What a fulfilling career is?’, and we tend to seek purpose and satisfaction at work. Pay scale, career development or status quo are all essential, but more meaningfully, we are likely most happy in flourishing human relationships both in and outside the workplace.

Interactions between co-workers, managers, and employees are usually complicated and probably contain stress. Trust is often co-related with good relationships, and Culture is a sum of values and beliefs that ‘stick’ people together.

The critical nature of the relationships between leaders and followers

Though there may be different definitions of what Happiness means, putting it in the workplace context, it is very much related to a Positive relationship. A healthy relationship at work, especially between employees and leaders, could predict successful organisational performance while increasing employee engagement and motivation.

On the other side, researchers have shown that the fundamental needs of a human are to be heard, seen, and valued. A feeling of unrecognition for one’s work contributions or ideas are not acknowledged will lead to certain stress levels. An inherent link to isolation and loneliness would likely result in a threat response. Ultimately, once the sense of connection to others is interrupted, the motivation will be primarily impacted.

Workplace relationships have faced many more challenges during the onset Covid-19 pandemic, which forced most people to work from home for a long time. According to the Microsoft Work Trend Index surveys, it is transparent that the shift to virtual workspace has shrunken employees’ networks.

All the above would demonstrate that a leader who wants to help the employees become more engaged and motivated will need to do more than just restructure and redesign their jobs. Contrary to the past, when most leadership styles were perceived as being transactional, whereby achievements and efficiency were embraced, nowadays, Effective leadership seems to be most needed in all areas. Becoming a more effective leader requires a combination set of compassion, authenticity and humane to see each of the employees as individuals with their strengths and weaknesses. In addition, they will prioritise relationships with their subordinates and lead with kindness and positivity.

How leaders may influence organisational culture

In an interview with Bloomberg in May 2021, the organisational psychologist Anthony Klotz named the ‘Great Resignation’ as a trend post-pandemic. It described an increasing figure of people who quit their jobs, which soon posed a threat to employers. One of the main reasons for that is Organisational culture.

Leadership and Culture have an inseparable linkage. While many organisation leaders could influence and shape the culture, others may leave it unmanaged or leave the HR function to handle, where culture becomes a secondary priority for the business.

Defining Cultures

Cultures can be defined as consistent and observable patterns of thinking, belief and behaviours that define an organisation. Cultures also carry many meanings, from the shared values & rituals to the story of the people embedded within the organisation. Cultures are powerful and dynamic as they can be shifted and constantly challenged when exposed to internal or external changes.

In 1980, Professor and Psychologist Edgar Schein developed a model in which he defined an organisation’s culture as being divided into three layers: Artifacts, Espoused Values and Basic Assumptions.

Leaders’ Influence on Cultures

There are many ways in which a leader can exert their influential capability to either build, enact or inspire via the culture. At the foundation, it is believed that founders or core managers should define the business’s critical values, beliefs, and assumptions. These will serve as a guideline to align whatever the company does to its vision and missions. It is known as a Visionary influence.

From another point of view, leaders can impact culture through Behaviours. Leaders’ behaviours comprising reactions to critical events & role modelling must be consistent with the values and beliefs they espoused. If employees find their leaders to behave as opposed to what they said, people will feel bitter and betrayed.

Another factor to consider is that Leaders can influence corporate cultures through Systems, Structures and Symbols. These elements have the purpose of formalising values and stabilising the organisation’s culture. For example, organisations prioritising individual learning will see more growth and development.

The role of the leader and the importance of trust

In general terms, ‘Trust’ is about work that gets done. We rely on trust while exchanging paycheques for products or services; we trust laws and contracts created to protect our rights & benefits. Trusting someone is not only based on their behaviours but also the confidence that they will follow through with the responsibility.  

Evidence has shown that high-trust organisations tend to generate higher profitability and better product quality. Employees working within a culture of trust will have more energy, be more joyful & productive, collaborate more efficiently with colleagues and stay longer with the employer.

Many times, trust is built, given, and broken. Frances & Anne (2020) have proposed the three drivers of Trust that anyone can refer back to even when trust is lost.

Authenticity

Being Authentic means being the ‘real’ self in terms of what a person knows, thinks, and feels. Even though it is usually advised that uncovering the true oneself could harm work relationships and harmony, being ‘unreal’ also equals the fact that someone is putting an artificial cap on trust and as a human, others can sense it and not be willing to show their vulnerability.

Logic

As a linkage to Authenticity, a leader should only speak what they know to be accurate with proven data and reliable information. Once they feel more comfortable, they can expand what they know and try to engage other team members’ opinions based on experiences because one person cannot have complete knowledge about everything.

Empathy

Lacking empathy often reduces trust, especially when people feel they are not respected and valued. Thus, the leader needs to spend quality time with less or without distractions to ensure that others’ sayings are heard carefully.

In short, trust is hard to earn but can easily be broken and fall apart. Also, relationships at work usually have many types as good, bad or something in between. Therefore, organisational culture needs to be well established with the cultivation of values of trust. Leaders with competency, authenticity and reliability will be embraced. Even the leaders’ small actions, behaviours, and small acts of gratitude and compassion will help build trust and engage employees more effectively.

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