Trust-building in a world that has become a less trusting place is challenging. Trust in business, media, government, and NGOs has reached an all-time low, and we divide trust levels along generational lines, with millennials displaying the lowest levels of trust. So, what to say ‘no’ and ‘yes’ to when practising trust-building in your business?
I can tell you that less trust can have far-reaching consequences, including decreased investment, creativity and job creation. Shockingly, this trend was consistent across different countries and cultures. As a business, you must do everything possible to counteract this tide. Building trust throughout your organization can improve job satisfaction, employee and customer retention, innovation and your bottom line.
While trust-building may appear simple, you must know a few things before your business embarks on a trust-building journey. When building trust with customers and other crucial stakeholders, some businesses unknowingly do things that damage trust. Say ‘no’ to these in trust-building. Here are some of the most common mistakes:
Preventing disagreement
A company is, at its core, a group of people attempting to accomplish a common goal, and proper communication is essential for that. You must understand that disagreement is a normal part of open conversations. Honest and constructive discussions cannot occur if individuals are not willing to disagree with one another. Therefore, make a psychologically secure space for people to discuss the drawbacks of a proposal. It is far healthier in the long run.
Being true to your word is critical in the workplace, from motivating employees and building trust to facilitating better communication. Therefore, breaking promises to employees can have long-term, harmful consequences. When employers break trust, employees struggle to feel secure in their roles and hesitate to give their best efforts. Employees who don’t trust their employer often disengage from their work and start exploring other job opportunities. For example, when employers promise state-of-the-art tools but deliver subpar cybersecurity technology instead, they risk frustrating employees or even driving them to leave.
Micromanagement in trust-building
Rules and regulations in the workplace often exist for a reason—to ensure that employees are productive and safe, and your customers get the high-quality service you promise them. However, when these rules become too restrictive and prevent employees from being innovative or taking risks, they can have the opposite effect.
For a company to be successful, it’s better to share the end goal and trust workers to use their skill sets, logic and experience.
- Improper communication: Regardless of the situation with your business, whether good or bad, sharing it with employees builds trust. Employees need to trust their employer for a healthy and productive workplace to exist. I often consider businesses that keep information hidden from their employees untrustworthy and secretive. Instead of holding onto information, share it with your team. They’ll appreciate your transparency and will be more likely to trust you.
- Assuming trust in a scattered workforce: The modern workplace is evolving. With a more distributed workforce and hybrid work, people are becoming more scattered. While this can be great for productivity and creativity, it can also lead to a lack of cybersecurity trust if not managed well. It takes time to build a trusting relationship. Therefore, a proactive business must be ready to set aside the time or effort needed for trust-building.
The seven elements of trust
Trust is essential in any relationship. Employees and customers need to trust that an organization’s cybersecurity is competent and dependable. Organizations need to trust their employees and stakeholders to act with integrity and empathy. There are seven levers you can use to build trust: accountability, consistency, competence, dependability, empathy, integrity and transparency. While each organization may place different values on these attributes, they are all essential.
Cyology Labs is crucial for business success in today’s fast-paced digital landscape. However, managing trust can pose a significant challenge for many organizations. Technology shouldn’t be a burden to your business—it should be an asset that drives success. If you’re tired of dealing with roadblocks, unpredictable costs and outdated strategies, it’s time to make a change. Your business can’t grow without regular check-ups to reset and protect what matters most. Contact us today! Let’s create a strategy of trust-building to take your business to the next level. www.CybersecurityMadeEasy.com
