Companies facing reputational disaster seem to hit the headlines every week. But a loss of trust can be an unwanted by-product of the many normal interactions of day-to-day working life. Research by Roffey Park has found that change management is inextricably linked to how employees view the trustworthiness of their organisation.
Employees regard a business as trustworthy when it operates:
- Effectively (with ability). Constant change and uncertainty can undermine an employee’s trust in their company to meet its goals and accountabilities. For example, when we asked about trust during our research, in one public sector organisation we found employees focused on its goal of making multimillion-pound efficiency savings.
- With benevolence. It is not difficult to see how at times of change this element of trust can easily be damaged. Caring for the wellbeing of those who leave, as well as those who stay, can have a significant impact on trust perceptions.
- With integrity. Employees decide whether they can trust their organisation based on the degree to which they view it as acting fairly and honestly. While an employee’s sense of whether a company is trustworthy is based on many factors, typically this decision is influenced by observations of leaders’ behaviour. Do leaders act as good role models?
Read more here