Gone are the days when employees worked solely for a paycheck. In today’s working environment, people want to spend their time with a company that has a solid and positive culture. That is why trust is pivotal in creating a great work environment, as cooperation and teamwork depend on it.
The Harvard Business Review states that employees at high-trust companies report they are 74% less stressed and have 106% more energy at work. They also see 50% higher productivity and 76% more engagement.
How do you implement trust throughout an organization of any size? Improving CEO, Curtis Hite, says his international IT consulting company forges trust through several programs and initiatives.
Trust is built through relationships.
“Trust is built through relationships,” Hite shares. “We want Improvers to be relational with their peers, and not just consider them strangers in a box during a virtual meeting.”
A new LinkedIn report shows that in 2022 “companies are adjusting their policies to make sure employees feel cared for as human beings, not just as workers.” The report says one way to achieve this is by investing in internal programs.
Hite’s company has invested heavily in its PATH Program. PATH is a unique employee growth program that helps individuals set and achieve goals at the highest level. Each person who goes through the program is paired with a mentor, who helps to remove roadblocks and assists in figuring out creative ways for their mentee to accomplish milestones.
Improving also provides several education programs and trust pods for employees to voluntarily join. The pods are intentional virtual weekly group discussions that expose every consultant to a trust mindset, no matter where their office is located. This not only helps to build trust internally with fellow coworkers, but with the clients they work with every day.
The LinkedIn report also highlights flexible work hours and enhancing diversity and inclusion efforts to create “a new, more dynamic relationship based on trust and empathy” between employers and their employees. People cannot build these types of relationships without involvement opportunities. Hite says his company continues to roll out both in-person and virtual involvement opportunities, which he believes is the model of the future.
“The success of our company is a result of our collective involvement,” Hite said. “Our core is our employees, and everybody contributes to our success every day.”
With high-trust companies seeing 29% more satisfaction and 40% less burnout according to HBR, it’s more important than ever to value company-wide trust. Leaders need to be deliberate with every decision that could affect culture and potentially change the trajectory of their organization.
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