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We all know that trust in personal relationships is vital and most of us will have witnessed what happens in those relationships when trust is lost; easy to lose, hard to win back - right? Trust amongst colleagues in the workplace is also incredibly important if the organisation is to benefit from people willing to challenge, willing to try and fail, willing to experiment, willing to share ideas, willing to be innovative – right? The difference between beginning a personal relationship and a work relationship lies, I would say, in the motivation. We long for companionship, love, family - so jumping in to trust someone who potentially offers that is a strong motivator and perhaps we’re more likely to take risks to achieve this – even sometimes when we’ve been hurt before. In the workplace, someone may have got the job but if from a marginalised background where their lived experience is discrimination, bullying, judgement, harassment then they will be cautious to trust, wanting to check out this new environment first. The motivation here is a desire to be appreciated and an opportunity to shine in this fresh start with minimum personal cost. In this situation, I would suggest, it is less likely we would ‘jump in’ and take risks. Trust needs to be observed and earned here. So why is trust so important in the workplace? When trust is missing in our team, we don’t speak up but guard our vulnerability; we check and double-check each other’s work; we ignore or dismiss advice; we withhold information out of fear of ‘being found out’, reprisal or having our ideas ‘stolen’; we are quick to attack or defend – and all this leads to greater mistrust, low morale and negative energy. Now, we know that diversity in teams has been proven to generate greater ideas, innovation, experiments and, frankly, bottom-line profit! Lately, we are seeing a real push for EDI (equity diversity inclusion) in organisations, such as improved HR policies, recruitment practices etc. It feels like things are moving, getting better doesn’t it! My concern is that this, although no doubt well meant, is slightly superficial. It is when we bring this diverse talent into the organisation that the shift truly needs to have happened. The culture, the reality, the space needs to be welcoming, safe and inclusive. If, for example, the first thing noted is that the ratio of male and female toilets in the Board Room suite is 3:1 or that they are in fact gender neutral, different messages are sent and received. For an organisation to demonstrate its commitment to EDI, it needs to be authentically putting ‘its house in order’. One way of doing this is to put effort into developing trust in diverse teams where, by their very nature, people have differences in experience, inbred bias and ways of working. Without trust, these differences can be the cause of stress, division and misunderstanding which can lead to failed communication, anxiety, putting up barriers, inadequate team learning and development and resulting in positive energy being either lost or diverted and productivity reduced. An investment here is as important as any financial investment an organisation might consider. As a human race we find it easier to trust people who are like us; have similar lived-experience or similar cultures that mirror our own reflection. Babies and mother’s bond by mimicking each other’s facial expressions/sounds - it is an innate and nurtured behaviour. But if we’re to foster effective diverse teams, we need to encourage trust and become counter-intuitive and for this, direction, intervention and facilitation are required. In addition, people need to see themselves represented, especially in leadership positions. They need to see there are development experiences and promotions available to everyone, not just the ‘same old suspects’. In brief, people need to see the values they signed up to ‘at the door’ are in evidence in the behaviours and relationships already in place before they can begin to trust and be their true self in the workplace and in their teams.
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