HR leaders can help their organization’s senior leaders to build employee trust amid today’s changing business landscape, according to an April 22 report from Gartner.
A lack of trust can negatively influence engagement and productivity, but taking strategic action to strengthen trust can reduce negative talent outcomes, the report found.
“Trust is crucial for organizations’ success. Employees who trust senior leaders at their organization are significantly more engaged compared to employees who do not,” Ned Feuer, a senior director in the Gartner HR practice, said in a statement. “A lack of trust most often stems from senior leaders withholding information, scapegoating or retracting decisions.”
To help senior leaders avoid these behaviors, HR pros can take strategic action in four ways:
- Conducting employee trust assessments and addressing the findings
- Encouraging decision-making transparency
- Facilitating open dialogue between employees and senior leaders
- Investing in skills development programs for senior leaders.
To assess employee trust, HR leaders can use existing employee feedback plans, including annual engagement surveys and focus groups. HR should then “transparently communicate findings to all employees” — and explain what steps will be taken to address trust gaps, the report found.
To foster transparency, HR leaders can encourage senior leaders to provide rationale behind their actions and the potential implications. Employees are 4.3 times more likely to trust leaders who explain their decisions, especially during uncertain periods, Gartner said.
After that, HR leaders can facilitate open dialogue, allowing both groups to identify shared values and address concerns. Employees are 6.5 times more likely to trust leaders who express genuine care about their concerns, the firm said.
To support all of this, HR leaders can invest in development programs for senior leaders to build skills in emotional intelligence, active listening, ethical decision-making and effective and transparent communication. These types of skills can help leaders reduce trust-breaking behaviors, the Gartner report found.
Employees often seek hope and trust from their workplace leaders, according to a recent Gallup report, with about a third saying they’re most influenced in their lives by a manager, colleague or organizational leader. The most influential leaders can meet both challenges and opportunities by demonstrating hope, trust, compassion and stability, the report said.
Employee mistrust has recently been driven by instability and an overall sense of living in uncommon times, experts told HR Dive. Companies can regain trust by focusing on corporate values, listening to employee feedback and fostering empathetic leadership, they said.
Organizational performance improves when leaders focus on trust and “human sustainability” by prioritizing people, including workers, customers and society at large, according to a Deloitte report. To do this, leaders should focus less on how much people benefit the company and more on how the company benefits people, a Deloitte executive said.
