Trust is ‘one party’s willingness to be vulnerable to another party based on the belief that the latter party is competent, open, concerned and reliable.’ (Mishra, 1996: 265)
Many of us have probably never experienced a situation where we have felt quite as vulnerable as we do right now. All aspects of our lives are being impacted by Covid-19, everyone needs support, and the systems we have come to rely on are failing. We have all lost control, and that breeds anxiety, and that in turns breeds the desire for more control. This does not sit well with showing we have trust in others even if we do.
Boards may be feeling the need to take a tighter grip, leaders may feel they have to keep up the pressure to perform, line managers might be constantly checking in on their teams and micromanaging, more than ever everyone is expected to be available 24/7, and so it goes.
I have seen missives from some organisations to their teams setting out expectations about how quickly they should respond on Slack, that they are expected to always have their mobile to hand, they should notify others when taking a break and they should have their camera turned on unless they have a weak signal. Others have simply said, ‘the health and safety of you and your families is what’s most important, whatever you need to do is alright by us.’
Which approach emphasises trust, and which is most likely to get the best of their team members?
This situation will be a real test of how deeply trust is already embedded in your organisation.
Building a culture of trust at the moment means creating a safe environment by sharing vulnerabilities appropriately, which has an added challenge in that you need to do it from a distance. I saw that one NHS Trust had set up a ‘wobble’ room for those moments when it had all got a bit much, how might you do something similar for your team virtually, and will they feel safe enough to respond?
Embedding characteristics of trust such as dependability, consistency, and reciprocity means moving from hierarchy to community, and that is applicable as much to governing bodies as it is to teams. It is also being demonstrated by many of the funders right now; they are saying we recognise you might be in trouble and we need to drop some of our barriers, we need to trust you.
It is more important than ever to say we trust you.
Dawn & Susan
References
MISHRA, A. K. 1996. Organizational responses to crisis. Trust in organizations: Frontiers of theory and research, 261, 1996