How to Rebuild Trust With Your Team

Trust takes a long time to earn, and no time to burn. At work, it’s like the glue that holds a team together. When it’s strong, everyone works better, but when it breaks, things fall apart. So, how do you rebuild trust with your team after it’s been broken? Learn the steps you can take to build it back up again. 

The High Cost of Broken Trust

There are many potential consequences of breaking trust with employees, affecting everything from daily performance to the organization’s ability to attract and retain talent. Here are some of the most significant impacts:

• Decreased productivity: When employees lose trust in their leaders or colleagues, they spend more time worried and anxious and cannot focus on their work. This distraction can affect how productive a team is. Employees become less willing to go above and beyond, resulting in missed opportunities for the organization.
• Increased turnover: Broken trust is one of the leading causes of high employee turnover. Employees often choose to leave a company not just for a better salary but for a more supportive and trustworthy work environment. High turnover adds significant costs to recruitment, training and recuperating lost knowledge.
• Poor relationships: Broken trust can make even the strongest work relationships turn sour. With enough relationships affected, broken trust can create a distrustful environment that fosters negativity and resentment, which can quickly spread throughout the team. Employees can easily feel disconnected from their leaders and colleagues, leading to a siloed atmosphere that can become a major blocker for even those who still have trust in the organization. 
• Reputational damage: Trust issues don’t just affect internal operations; they can go as far as damaging an organization’s reputation. If an organization becomes known for poor leadership and communication, it may struggle to attract and recruit qualified candidates. This impedes their ability to provide the output their clientele has come to expect, hurting their relationship with their customer base and damaging their public reputation.

What Breaks Trust With Employees?

Understanding how trust in the workplace can be broken can help you figure out how to fix it. Here are some common causes of broken trust at work:

• Inaction: A leader’s failure to deliver on promises can raise questions about their honesty, reliability and intentions.
• Inconsistency: Being inconsistent or unpredictable in behavior, expectations or policies can lead to broken trust.
• Unfair treatment: Showing preferential treatment to certain employees creates a sense of unfairness and erodes trust among the team. 
• Dishonesty: Even small lies or acts of deception, like withholding information, can severely damage trust, making it hard to rebuild. 
• Micromanagement: Excessive control and a lack of autonomy indicate a lack of trust in employees’ ability to do their jobs and can drive resentment and disengagement. 

Steps to Rebuild Trust With Your Team

There is no quick fix when it comes to rebuilding trust with your employees. It takes intentional effort and consistent work. Here are some steps you can follow to repair and regain your team’s trust:

Acknowledge and Own Your Actions

The first step is to address the situation that caused the trust breakdown. Be specific and honest about your role and take responsibility for what happened. Take the time to acknowledge and validate how your team member (or members) feel about the situation. Doing so will show that you genuinely care for their well-being and want to learn from this experience so you can make them feel safe in the future, all of which can help you earn back trust as a leader.

Apologize

A sincere apology isn’t just saying you’re sorry, although this is a good place to start. Giving a genuine apology to your team means acknowledging the impact of your decisions or actions. You can break down how the issue came to be and what you should have done differently. By apologizing to your team authentically, you demonstrate that you are willing to hold yourself accountable for your actions, making you appear more trustworthy.

Outline the Correction

Corrective action is an essential step in the process of rebuilding trust. Outline what you will do to make amends for the breach of trust and the measures you will take to prevent such situations in the future. Ensure that if you make any promises, you can and will keep them. Even small broken commitments can damage the rebuilding process, so be cognizant of the guarantees you make. 

Ask for Help

Involving your team in the rebuilding process can make workplace relationships stronger and create opportunities for team building. Inviting other team members to discuss the issue, asking them for their input on how you can best resolve the conflict and brainstorming ways you can prevent such issues going forward can signal vulnerability, which will indicate that you trust your team and value their input, kick-starting the trust cycle again.

Start Cultivating a Culture of Trust With CLS

Rebuilding trust may seem challenging, but it is achievable with dedication. At The Center for Leadership Studies, we created the Building Trust course to equip leaders with the motivation, skill and knowledge necessary to build (and rebuild) trust with their teams. Contact us today to learn how you can get started with the tried-and-true methods for enhancing trust.