Kathline Barisenkoff , MA, CPHR, SHRM-SCP

Trust is said to be the cornerstone to successful relationships in the workplace and the cornerstone of successful leadership. Without it, relationships break down and people stop working collaboratively. Employee engagement decreases reflecting in your bottom line.

At Work Survey, the Watson Wyatt’s People have revealed that companies with highly-committed employees and high trust outperform companies of low-commitment by 200%.


“Without trust, words become the hollow sound of a wooden gong. With trust, words become life itself.”
—John Harold



Six Ingredients for establishing and maintaining trust in your workplace:

Strategy – Most organizations today have a Vision and Mission that outlines its core ideals and that act as a guidepost for strategic decision making and directional planning. The question is “do your leaders exemplify this vision and mission, do their values match the values of the organization?”
When the strategic direction of the organization is not in line with the vision, mission and values the contradiction is apparent. This type of contradiction leaves staff confused and less likely to believe in what their leaders have to say and creates a culture of distrust within an organization. Be sure your vision, mission and values are reflected in the strategic planning at your organization.

Integrity – Wikipedia defines Integrity as “consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations and outcome.” It is important that an organizations structures support the consistent application of methods and measures within the organization. Put simply – all people are held to the same level of accountability regardless of status or likability. The playing field must be laid out for all of the players, policies and procedures that support the organizations direction, job descriptions that are an accurate reflection of the roles and demonstrate how those roles support the direction of the organization. Individuals are held accountable to the expected outcomes of their roles. Ensure that your strategy is accurately reflected in your structures and that each working group and individual is consistently held accountable to those structures.

Respect – Respect can mean many different things and can include taking into consideration someone else’s thoughts, feelings, perceptions, etc. It is important to define a common understanding of what this means to you and your people. When respect is demonstrated in an organization and amongst teams, people develop a greater level of trust as they see that their opinions, feelings and thoughts are taken seriously by one another. Establish a common understanding of and a standard for respect in your workplace. Consistently demonstrate respect and hold others accountable to the standard.


“Set your expectations high; find men and women whose integrity and values you respect; get their agreement on a course of action; and give them your ultimate trust.”
—John Fellows Akers



Communication – A key to any successful organization is effective communication. Communicating your organizations vision, mission, values, strategy and structures in a consistent manner at all levels will help to empower your employees and support them to be successful. When viewed as non-communicative leaders and organizations create a distrust as they are viewed as having something to hide. Having a solid communication plan in place will support the development and maintenance of a trusting work culture. When creating your communication plan, be sure to consider the structure of your organization, different formats for communicating and the timing of sending your message.

Collaboration & Inclusion – Long gone are the days of top down leadership as a respected style of management. Collaboration is the way of the world these days. Defining common goals and common interests and working with your staff to solve issues has proven to be a productive method for increasing engagement within an organization. When your people have contributed to the solution, they buy in to the plan. When a person or work group has buy in to a plan they have a higher level of commitment to achieving the goals of “their” plan. Look for ways to include your people in the problem solving process.
If collaboration is new for you, start with collaborating on smaller issues, slowly build to collaborating on larger issues. This can lead to a healthy cycle of developing greater trust in your workplace.

Functioning from Facts – Difficult situation arise on a daily basis in the workplace. An important element in managing these challenges is separating facts from feelings. We have all seen it happen – a hot button is pushed and someone responds based on feelings, often times saying something they regret later. This can and does cause breakdown in workplace communication and erodes trust. When dealing with a hot issue in the workplace – separate your feelings from the facts and do not let personal issues or biases influence your response. By teaching your people to do the same you will enable them to develop stronger communication, problem solving and collaboration skills.

Successful organizations and successful leaders share a common thread – they have built trust with and in their people, their customers and their partners.


“Relationships of trust depend on our willingness to look not only to our own interests, but also the interests of others.”
—Peter Farquharson