Building Trust During Times of Change

There are three constants in life, change, choice and principal - Steven Covey

Trust is the degree to which we believe in the reliability of someone or something.  This is critically important during times of organizational change.  Incorporate it as a value in your organizational change and transformation programs, define Trust as one's ability to embrace the future ways of working without fear of embarrassment from peers or managers.  

Resistance to change is cloaked in our fear of being cut out from the herd.  This natural fear comes from the tribal nature of our history, and can be detrimental to our behavior when we sense we are not accepted by our group. 

As a leader, become hyperaware of your actions and whether or not they are building trust or eroding trust. 

During times of change error on the side of transparency, over communicate, recognize examples of individuals who have exhibited the new behaviors, publicly praise and reward those who are adopting the new norms to help the group see a deep sense of reliability in moving into the future ways of working.

Research in trust suggests that trust is built little by little over time.  As a leader of a team, your most important actions will be the ones that build trust over and over.  During times of change emphasize the value of Trust. 

Role model it through all your actions. 

Avoid making comments about others (your peers or direct reports) when they are not around, refrain from talking about issues or rumors that are not yours to discuss, carry yourself with a heightened sense of integrity to enable those around you to Trust that they won’t be embarrassed or ostracized by you. 

When managing change, it is important that those who are asked to change have a sense of psychological safety, which is a high degree of comfort to speak up, share ideas, and try new things without any sense of fear.  This perception is a key enabler to successfully institute organizational change.  

Building a culture of trust during times of organizational change, is not just the responsibility of leadership, instead it is the responsibility of all. 

As an individual one way to better build trust for yourself and with your peers is to consider the metaphorical Marble Jar. 

The author and thought leader Brene Brown has a simple analogy to become more intentional of each little interaction in an effort to build trust with our peers.  She refers to it as, The Marble Jar.  The idea of The Marble Jar is to envision an empty jar and with every interaction, we are either adding marbles or removing marbles from the jar. With the little actions that build trust, marbles are added to the imaginary jar, the little actions that erode trust, marbles are removed from the jar. The more marbles in the metaphorical jar, the more trust has been built.  The more marbles you have in your jar, not only the more you will be trusted, but the more trust you feel with your peers, leaders and all those in your organization.