Insight article
Trust and engagement
Many organisations we work with see Trust as a critical factor in gaining competitive advantage. But to create a trusted organisation – if that is how you want to be perceived by your customers and external stakeholders – you have to begin with your employees.
I recently attended an internal comms conference where the question was asked, ‘Who Do Think Your Employees Trust Most’? The vast majority of delegates, given the choice of Chief Executive, comms team or line manager opted for the line manager.
Never has there been such a need to engage the organisation as a whole, and in particular line managers who are so influential to their teams. Organisations need to look at different and more engaging ways to reach through to this layer of the organisation. If you can’t get this strata of employees to trust the decisions and strategy that is being set by the executive team, how can you possibly expect those at the coal face to trust them?? And if employees don’t trust the senior team (or worse, their line manager), they remain cynical and their levels of engagement and performance will drop dramatically, impacting on customers’ perception of the organisation.
Trust is built over time. Invest in engaging your people at every level, and the rewards will follow.
