Can you relate to this? Many of our clients are having challenges with absenteeism, low or unclear expectations, lack of engagement and follow-through with their current employees and they are having a hard time filling key roles and positions with qualified individuals that not only have the skills they need, but also have the emotional intelligence needed for the job and the team. The impact this is having is it is decreasing the capacity of these organizations to be able to serve or effectively serve its customer base, causing lower revenues, missed opportunities and opening the door for competition who might be one step ahead. Does this sound familiar to you?
The clients we have been working with that are experiencing these challenges all have one thing in common…..low trust throughout the organization. How do we know this? Because ROI measured their trust levels using the Employee Passion Survey™.
So the next logical question might be how do you measure trust? Well first you have to define what trust looks like in an organization and what behaviors lead to building trust in relationships and while communicating.
Let’s start with what a high-trust culture looks like. An organization where trust is high has passionate employees, who are not only passionate about their work, but are also passionate about the purpose of the company they work for and understand how what they do every day contributes to that purpose. High Trust Cultures are able to adapt quickly to change and can be more responsive to internal and external customers. They create more value by going above and beyond expectations for their customers. They are innovative in the way they solve problems and make innovation and problem-solving everyone’s job. High Trust Cultures have minimal politics, less confusion, low turnover, high morale, higher employee satisfaction and productivity. As a matter of fact, Stephen M.R. Covey defines this as the “Economics of Trust.” Whenever he comes across a company where trust is low, efficiency and productivity goals are not being met and the cost of doing business is high. Conversely, when trust is high, productivity and efficiencies increase and costs go down. Stephen M.R. Covey says, “Publicly traded companies with a high trust culture outperform others financially by 286% in Total Return to Share holders. Fortune 100 Best Companies with high levels of trust outperform others by 288% in all the major areas that businesses measure success.
Okay, I think we have clearly defined what a high trust culture in an organization looks like and some of its benefits. Now I hope you are asking how do we get there?!
ROI is certified to deliver Integro Leadership Institute’s Trust Inside Assessments and corresponding Team and Leadership Development Programs. At the core of what these assessments measure to know what needs to be developed is something called the Integro Trust Model™. This model was developed by the founder of Integro, Dr. Ralph Colby and has been validated and proven over 35 years of measuring these behaviors to be essential for building trust. The most effective Leaders of organizations are using the 4 Trust-Building Behaviors consistently and believe in the 8 Values That Build Trust and they have experienced the benefits of a workplace with high levels of trust.
If you want to know what these trust-building behaviors are and the research to support their impact, check out the links to the right that are white papers on the subject or visit our website.
As we approach the end of another calendar year and many of you are meeting to put your strategic plan in place for next year, I want you to remember the following things:
- Trust makes you as a leader and your business better at every competency you need to deliver value to your customers that your competitors cannot match.
- Trust reduces turnover and increases engagement
- To be trusted is the most compelling motivation for leading change and saves you time and money
- Trust is the best accelerator of energy and joy in the workplace
- Low Trust can derail the best of Business Strategies
- Trust is a multiplier of Opportunities
- Trust is a Game Changer
I encourage you to make creating a Culture of High Trust be part of your Strategic Plan for 2016. We can help you with assessing where you are with Trust and what you need to work on to give you the best ROI on your Strategic Plan. Yes, you can meaningfully measure trust and yes it does have a financial impact on your business. Be a Game Changer and make it part of your Game Plan!!
In Trust,
Dana Riker Jackson, CEO
Riker Opportunity Institute, Inc.
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