Trust is one of the key success factors of organizations and the personal relationships we have with other people. If you are a leader or a manager, you would, naturally, want people to trust you, as we cannot do business without trust.
To understand how trust impacts our behavior and its impact on collaboration and engagement with people at work, think of a relationship with someone you trust.
Why do you think trust happened? Now think of a relationship with someone who doesn’t trust you. Can you see anything in common there?
What happens when we trust someone?
Trust is driven by the hormone oxytocin, which improves not only trust, but also our generosity, empathy, morality, and it also affects our behavior. Therefore, with the people whom we trust, we will naturally show more of this behavior, and per Dr. Paul Zak ”The more oxytocin on board, the higher our trustworthiness.”
As we know, there are various perspectives on building trust and regardless of what approach we want to focus on, and even acknowledging that trust is not always mandatory to exist in order to collaborate – Not all working relationships are putting us at risk.
Some common outcomes of building trust in the workplace are pretty clear:
● Trust-based working relationships are necessary for success
● It improves overall communication and teams can share their know-how
● People feel comfortable taking appropriate risks
● Trust increases the level of commitment within employees (no need for micromanaging)
● Better respond to organizational changes
● It builds loyalty and positively affects productivity
● People sense whether you trust them or not
How Emotional intelligence can help you build trust with people?
As we know emotions can have a powerful influence over our decision-making and cognition, including our behavior where trust is involved.
—- If I don’t trust you, it is much likely that you won’t trust me either. —–
All emotions we have are signaling something to us and you can learn how to earn and how to assess trust in your relationships if you practice listening to them.
Like anyone else, when it comes to trust I doubt people’s intentions at times and I look for anything that is questionable or deceptive, but the longer I think of trust, I go by the simple rules: Trust the behavior, not the words.
What neuroscience showed us as well is that one of the biggest enemies of trust is stress. Even if you are not a leader or a manager by your position, think of the impact of emotions being generated at your workplace. Use the power of your emotions to improve your experiences, and those around you, but be mindful that once trust is gone your relationships can quickly become a thing of the past. It can take so long to build trust, but sometimes only moments to lose it.
Trust amplifies the quality of our relationships and when it exists, possibilities of what can be achieved are countless.
Author: Ana Toroman, Talent Development Consultant
Being a part of training and development education programs across companies in the Middle East, I help people develop their potential through learning key social skills for career building, with a particular interest in emotional resilience in the workplace. Having started my career in HR and education and working as a Corporate Trainer & a Coach in Dubai, I work on self-development strategies for both teams and individuals. Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn here or follow me on Instagram on HR and Wellbeing page here