Leadership is never easy. But confronting uncomfortable truths helps us make real, lasting progress. In 2023, Workplace reported only 21% of team members trust their organization’s leadership. Is yours among the lucky few, or is there work to be done? We’ve identified three warning signs trust is waning on your team. Taking careful stock of how your organization measures up can help avoid further struggles and setbacks.
1. Talented People are Missing the Mark
You’re careful about who you bring on your team and how you encourage their growth. So why are some of the most talented people in your organization missing the mark? There’s a good chance that gaps in communication are feeding a cycle of mistrust. That can hurt outcomes for even the most experienced employees.
“On an individual level, poor communication compromises one’s ability to fulfill their mandate, be productive, build healthy working relationships, collaborate with others, and so much more. In fact, nearly 9 in 10 workers believe that ineffective communication affects them to some degree at work.”
The good news is, communication can always improve and there are lots of creative ways to do it. Metrics with measurable goals that have a clear path forward allow you to bolster their improvement readily. Once you’ve found a starting point, there are a few important next steps:
- As part of more clearly communicating their goals, be sure your team knows where to find resources to achieve them.
- When possible, offload less critical tasks until targeted metrics improve.
- Even though it’s awkward, own your missteps.
When you’re accountable to your team for your part in communication issues, they’re more likely to remain confident in their skills. Confidence boosts resilience. People who know their abilities recover from setbacks faster and take more ownership of their improvement.
2. [Unhealthy] Conflicts are On the Rise
Conflict is a natural outcome of ambitious, talented people working together. It doesn’t have to be harmful. In fact, effective leaders and teams can learn from differences highlighted by conflict, taking the strongest aspects of divergent ideas and blending them together into something remarkable. But where there’s mistrust, unhealthy conflict makes itself known.
We love this breakdown of unhealthy conflict and its impact by LSA Global.
“At its core, unhealthy conflict impedes people’s ability to perform at the best. It most often occurs in situations where teams are lacking in trust, have unclear roles, and are deficient in emotional intelligence skills. This causes too many disagreements to get emotional, personal, abusive, and accusatory. In unhealthy conflicts, sides typically walk away without coming to a mutual understanding.”
It’s easy to think of examples of conflicts like these if you’ve been in the workforce long enough. Unhealthy conflicts are born from mistrust, and both are harmful symptoms of a struggling workplace culture. If you notice your team moving away from principled disagreement, or normal differences in approach, and toward unhealthy conflict, it’s important to make finding fair and equitable solutions a priority.
3. More People are Quitting
Perhaps the most glaring red flag that there are trust issues in your organization is higher turnover. If more people are quitting unexpectedly it’s time for a reckoning among leadership.
- How is management style affecting employee turnover?
- Were there any company-wide changes before turnover spiked?
- What changes can we implement (immediate and long-term) to reverse this worrying trend?
Training Industry found that poor management is a key contributor to high employee turnover, up to and including middle management. They make no secret that these skill gaps lead to trust gaps, adding:
“Employees are working under an increasing number of bad managers and becoming distrustful of upper management’s ability to recognize and reward good talent. Organizations need to figure out a way to produce better, more effective managers—and quickly—or they risk losing top talent and creating the poor morale that accompanies employee churn.”
What to Do
“The ability to establish, grow, extend, and restore trust is the key professional and personal competency of our time.” – Stephen Covey
Whether you’ve seen it firsthand or have a sense it’s simmering under the surface, realizing your team doesn’t trust you is hard to come to terms with. Gathering feedback can be effective, but that may be challenging if the trust issues are far reaching. It’s wise to prepare for the feedback stage with a clear, honest understanding of where your leadership and management skills can improve. Going into feedback sessions with an open, accessible approach shows your employees you’re serious about rebuilding trust.
Rebuild Trust and Strengthen Your Team Today!
Trust is the foundation of any successful team. Addressing communication gaps, managing conflicts healthily, and reducing turnover are crucial steps in fostering a trustworthy workplace culture.
Are you ready to enhance trust within your organization?
Schedule a call with us to discover tailored strategies to rebuild and strengthen trust in your team. We offer expert guidance, training, and support to help you improve communication, resolve conflicts constructively, and retain top talent. Together, we’ll support your people and organization to create a resilient, high-trust work environment that drives success and growth.