Placing trust on the P&L

How long is a piece of string? Efforts to establish the true cost of the ‘trust deficit’ in key relationships at work might take you to this question, rather than a satisfactory answer. 

But who’s even asking the question? For many of us, the absence of trust has been a part of our working environment from the day we started work. We’ve simply adopted a range of coping mechanisms handed down and learnt over the generations, to make sure we ‘keep the show on the road’ and navigate efficiently around the organisation so as to do our job.

So, is this damning reflection a little over the top?

Well, some working environments have a greater trust-deficit that others but aren’t these findings prevalent just about everywhere? Here’s three questions to tease out whether I’m making a mountain out of a molehill:

How many of us have not, at some point, spent considerable time composing carefully scripted emails to a colleague just a few metres down the corridor, so to frame your opinions and priorities as more important than others – sometimes pre-approved by your boss – whilst having all the right stakeholders on the ‘cc list’… or even worse the ‘bcc list’?

How many teams have you worked with where the weekly or monthly team meeting was something to look forward to? A place to recharge the batteries and strengthen commitment to shared goals? Or were they energy-draining rituals viewed as blocks in the diary which prevented us getting on with running the business?

Have you ever walked away from holding colleagues’ accountable for failing to meet expectations because the risk, in that moment, wasn’t worth taking… the risk of looking foolish, being seen as confrontational, losing favour with the manager who shapes your career outlook, your rewards?

The trust-deficit in the world of big business….

Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised to see the trust-deficit alive and kicking in big business: These are complex places, with lots of teams focussed on a variety of goals, some of which conflict with others. Add in complexities of culture differences, the challenges of virtual teams and remote working… Here, tackling the trust deficit in these places it would need to be a strategic priority.

In my last corporate role, the Commercial EVP of a major pharmaceutical business dropped into my part of the business as part of his ‘farewell tour’ before retirement. Perhaps this was why he was so candid with his remarks as he learnt that I had just recruited a talented Training Manager, about to join my team.

‘So Rob, you’ve probably paid top dollar to attract a first class Training Manager. You’ve no doubt included an expensive car and pension. I imagine the best thing for the business is for you to greet her on day 1, lead her to her office and give her a newspaper to read – each and every day. But you won’t do that: You’ll introduce her to the business she will be sure to find a burning platform to justify delivery of a massive training intervention. And if there isn’t a burning platform, you can be sure she’ll assemble a compelling business case which will create cost, disruption to the business and sap resources. How else will you or the new hire justify her joining business?’

An old cynic or a highly experienced senior executive well versed in organisational behaviour? Well, it made me think about the times leaders make decisions and the motives underpinning them. Have they emerged from high quality debate by a leadership team committed to doing their very best for the business or are they really determined by factors, the root cause of which is a trust deficit?

In a few words, here’s the business case for investing in building real trust across the team:

If there is real trust in place across the team, team members will be totally open and honest with each other around personal strengths and weaknesses;  the health of the team;  be willing to confront diverse views and opinions knowing each contribution is offered with good intent. Whilst uncomfortable, they will do this knowing the outcome will be the best decisions for the business.

Establishing trust in each other enables each of the team to hold each other accountable for delivering on the team agenda, in a highly aligned way… not always relying on the boss to tackle missed goals. There is no tolerance for personal agendas, bad behaviour or for failing to deliver agreed goals, all delivered in a supporting environment because each team member trusts the boss and colleagues to be open, honest, selfless and supportive.

Fairly easy to articulate… not complex at all! So why the trust-deficit so prevalent in organisational life?

Well, after a career as an HR leader in large global business, recruitment of talent has always been a strategic priority. But when it comes to defining the key qualities for key hires, what would be the non-negotiable criteria? “must have 10 years global exposure… managed significant change programme… delivered great commercial results… demonstrate strategic thinking”.  Of course, these are critical to a great leadership hire but how much attention is paid to ‘preparedness to be vulnerable….willing to put the broader business priorities above personal or functional goals…?’ Well, as a hiring manager would you be impressed with a highly talented candidate who sacrificed his agenda in order to the business to win? Is this what you want to hear? Are hiring managers looking for the precise qualities that can tackle the trust deficit and that can truly create competitive advantage?

The trust-deficits in SME businesses.

When I entered the world of smaller businesses, as part of the People Puzzles’ HR Director team, I expected less signs of a trust deficit: After all, CEOs and Owners of SMEs really can’t afford to waste precious resources. With just about everyone being close to the customer and with managing smaller teams, the leader would surely be able to rally the troops, communicate what’s important, have visibility to most activities and develop strong teamwork and alignment?

Not in my experience …. so far. CEOs and Owners everywhere seem wholly concerned with building a smart organisation – ensuring key hires have all the right credentials, capabilities and experience.

This is starting to sound like the Training Manager hire I brought into my team several years ago… accompanied with the alarm bells from the outgoing EVP. So, what do we mean by smart organisation?

Smart organisations

Patrick Lencioni, in his book ‘The Advantage’, talks about how many organisations pay a lot of attention to build a Smart organisation, where the big priority is to acquire all the right talents and capabilities, so that you have a brilliant strategy, industry leading marketing team, the best sales leaders and functional expertise.  Who could argue with this being key to the next senior hire of an ambitious business? Of course, it’s vital your next key leader is the best that your budget can buy, armed with skills and experience to bring tangible value to business success.

But it mustn’t stop there. The bigger prize is what Patrick describes as the Healthy Organisation – an organisation which offers the opportunity to gain real competitive advantage. This is an organisation that is free of political behaviour, where there is real alignment in the way the business is led, creating highly engaged, productive employees.

In the ‘Talent Councils’ and ‘Succession Planning Workshops’ I’ve facilitated through my career, building the smart organisation was implicitly the big priority. Today, it remains as a central part of an HR Director’s and CEO’s remit. And the results very measurable.

But is equal importance placed on creating a healthy organisation? As they say, ‘what gets measured gets done’, and vice versa.  Perhaps this explains why achieving a healthy organisation is not something many organisations strive for. For how long is a piece of string?

Building a coherent leadership team starts at the top.

Ambitious owners and CEOs have a terrific opportunity as they build their organisation, to establish and maintain a healthy organisation.  Getting their top team operating as a coherent team will surely set the standard across the business.

So, what is the development journey a leader must take in order to take the business from smart to healthy? Well it isn’t a whole host of Management Development programmes and training courses. To be honest, your readiness to achieve a healthy organisation is more about reaching a decision than embarking on training and development events.

Simply make trust important. Building trust with your team is the first step on the path to building a healthy organisation. Establishing trust within the team is the first step to building a team capable of making better, faster decisions, tapping into the skills and opinions of all members, avoiding wasting time and energy on politics, confusion and destructive conflict… ultimately achieving competitive advantage.

Would you value support in your journey towards a healthy organisation? As accredited facilitators of Lencioni’s ‘Five Behaviours of a coherent team’ we help businesses build healthy organisations. We would love to chat to you about how we can help your team, please email on [email protected].