The Cost of Trust
By Cynthia Olmstead

Trust is the foundation for all relationships. Family, friendship, romantic, and business relationships all share this common bond essential for teams, companies, organizations, government agencies or any other group to succeed.

Yet, even the strongest groups encounter trust issues that can spread like wildfire if unaddressed or undetected. Unfortunately, many companies pay little attention to these issues until it becomes painfully clear that trust has been lost. In many cases, the red flags are raised the highest when such oversights result in costly measures to address their consequences.

Trust Busters
When a business environment becomes unstable, management shifts or competition increases, the work environment can begin to feel like a pressure cooker. During trying times, relationships between managers and employees can take a dangerous detour towards secrecy, broken promises, back stabbing and other "trust busting" behaviors.

Even during routine daily interactions with employees, a manager may be unaware of trust busters lurking beneath the surface. Common examples include:

• Not sharing information
• Lying
• Taking credit for others' hard work
• Lack of following through on promises or work assignments
• No feedback

While these incidents may seem benign in isolated circumstances, over a short period of time, they can breed resentment, lack of enthusiasm and productivity, and, ultimately, higher turnover. A recent Gallup survey of 2 million workers at 700 companies concluded that the length of employees' stay is largely determined by relationships with their managers. In other words, people don't quit companies, they quit managers.

Turnover Costs
Finding and keeping first-rate talent can be extremely challenging. When first-rate employees leave a company, costs of replacement can be significant. According to a recent survey conducted by salary.com, employers will spend on average $21,000 replacing employees due to turnover in 2008, representing a 40 percent increase over past years.

Excessive turnover also hurts morale, adds additional workloads until the position is filled and halts productivity as valuable time is taken to recruit, interview and train replacements. Customer service and production are also hampered by reduced levels of efficiency, directly impacting a company's bottom line.

The TrustWorks Language of Trust
The good news is, in most cases, trust can be restored, even under the most extraordinary circumstances. The first step towards restoring trust is establishing a practical, common language for addressing issues. One proven approach used by Fortune 500 companies and small to mid-sized businesses is called the ABCD's of Trust™. This simple, yet effective, model for discussing trust issues defines four core characteristics or behaviors of individuals and groups, such as:

• Able (Demonstrates competence): shows expertise, experience, and capability getting the desired results.
• Believable (Acts with integrity): walks the talk of a core set of values, demonstrates honesty and use of fair practices.
• Connected (Cares about others): interacts with staff, uses good people skills, communicates and shares information, provides praise and gives recognition.
• Dependable (Maintains reliability): performs consistently, takes accountability for actions, and is organized and consistent with follow up.

These basic guide points help managers and employees to identify where they are strong in trust building practices and where they need to improve. From there, work can begin on creating an action plan to develop trusting relationships that yield the highest performance.

Discussing Trust
Opening the door for discussing trust issues may seem like a daunting task at first, but, with practice, this common language approach can give struggling teams a much needed shot in the arm. By enabling people to address trust issues directly without attacking individuals, trust can be uncovered, restored and flourish within an organization.

TrustWorks is focused on helping managers to be better leaders and employees of all levels to collaborate by building trust, skills and strategies needed to take your company to the next level. Our monthly e-newsletter is designed to help you approach trust-based discussions with colleagues by examining common issues that affect workplace trust and giving helpful suggestions to resolve them. If you'd like to invite others to join our monthly e-newsletter mailing list, please refer them to www.TrustWorksGroup.com.