Understanding in TRUST

How listening to understand moves colleagues from transactional to transformational relationships

Trust in organizations, institutions, and leaders is at an all-time low in the United States. When people lose their trust, it’s nearly impossible to get ahead as an organization; additionally, with job cuts in the tech sector, that can mean less people in your organization. 

Making sure the people you do have in your organization have a high level of trust with one another and the shared mission is crucial. 

Regulating and understanding TRUST

Creating trust in an organization can be as simple as TRUST: 

Transparency

Relationship

Understanding

Shared Success

Test Assumptions 

When we use this model as a roadmap, we can be aware of our mindset, intentions and impact. This puts us in our prefrontal cortex where we’re best suited to make the decisions and connections that move our companies forward. 

Understanding leads the way

Human beings thrive on connection and affirmation. We wither in the face of criticism and judgment. 

Listening to understand and connect is more than just listening to confirm what you know; it’s truly about focusing on the other person without judgment, and without the need to confirm or reject what is being said in order to be right. 

Dave Ulrich shares statements that help turn truth into trust. Depending on your leadership role and style, these include statements like: 

  • How well do I understand your point of view? 
  • Here’s what I propose given my values and goals. What would you suggest? 
  • I don’t know; can we find out together? 
  • What information do you have that may help us make a better decision?
  • What is happening in your life that is causing stress? Let’s discuss so I can support you. 

Full attention leads to understanding

Listening without judgment involves paying full attention to the person who is speaking, while consciously setting aside the tendency to judge them. Listening to understand and connect is an important component of creating a conversational space that creates deeper understanding and engagement rather than fear and avoidance. 

Ask yourself: what is their perspective?

When you listen, it’s about THEM, not YOU. What is their perspective? Their fear? The results they want? Listening is our gateway to connection that leads to trust. 

You’ll notice the word “listen” contains the same letters as the word “silent.” When we are truly listening, we are not speaking at the same moment, internally or externally. We turn off our mind chatter. 

Consider: 

  • How does your connection change when you truly focus on the other person without judging or listening for points to counter or reject? 
  • How does the listener’s reaction to you change as a result? 
  • How do you feel when someone deeply listens to you? 
  • What do we do when we listen to connect?
    • Notice the eyes: are they open or closed? 
    • Notice the whole person: is there a shift in their face? 

Practice listening to understand in the next conversation you have in your organization. You’ll be surprised how far a simple intention can go. 

Stay tuned for the next in our Organizational Trust series, where we’ll dive deep into Shared Success. For more information and to schedule time with one of our experts, email us at experts@orcahrsolutions.com . 

Relationship in TRUST

How companies promoting workplace relationship benefit from happier employees

Trust plays a part in every conversation you have throughout the day. While conversing with someone, your conscious mind might not be thinking whether you trust them or their provided information. Your subconscious mind, however, is constantly analyzing their interactions with yourself and others as well as recalling past experiences and similar interactions in order to gauge their trustworthiness. Therefore, all conversations either build trust or break it down. 

Over the years, workplace collaboration has become increasingly popular and important among employees. A Gartner, Inc. Survey shows that nearly 80% of workers used collaboration tools for work in 2021, which was a 44% increase since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020. 

With increased collaboration within organizations, there is a stronger need to connect with others to build meaningful relationships and therefore trust. 

Regulating and understanding TRUST

Creating trust in an organization can be as simple as TRUST: 

Transparency

Relationship

Understanding

Shared Success

Test Assumptions 

When we use this model as a roadmap, we can be aware of our mindset, intentions and impact. This puts us in our prefrontal cortex where we’re best suited to make the decisions and connections that move our companies forward. 

With remote or hybrid work, workplace relationships are more important—and difficult to achieve—than ever

Traditionally, full-time workers often spend more of their waking hours alongside co-workers than they do with their spouses and families. In today’s environment with many employees still working remotely either full time or part time due to the pandemic, relationships play a significant role in interactions.

When you are staring at a computer screen all day, it’s easy to forget that on the other end of your emails and chat messages is another human being. Without much of a relationship, it can be hard to assess tone and intentions over these forms of communication. This opens the door for misunderstandings, negative encounters, and ill feelings toward co-workers. Ultimately, it can lessen trust between people.

So, what are some actions you can take to prioritize remote work relationships? Here are a few of our suggestions:

  • Discuss issues over a call. You can really benefit from hearing each other’s voices and tone of voice. 
  • Take it a step further and turn on your cameras during meetings to see expressions and get that face to face value.
  • Schedule non-work related meetings where you can get to know each other better. Try and find an online trivia game or other icebreakers that you and your team can work together on. 

Workplace relationships allow employees to flourish

Whether working remotely or in-person, employees who invest in nourishing their relationships with team members feel more fulfilled and accomplish more. A Connected Commons study, where interviews were conducted with 160 leaders (80 men and 80 women) across 20 organizations, showed that workplace relationships proved useful with different aspects of: producing innovative solutions, executing work efficiently, and thriving at work. 

They found that people who create energy, purpose, and trust within their workplace networks succeed over time at a stunningly high rate. Furthermore, these good relationships brought project opportunities, talented people who sought to work with them, and were able to generate greater innovation and creativity overall. With this information in mind, it is hard to underestimate the power of relationships.

Who can you build a stronger relationship with in your organization? 

Stay tuned for the next in our Organizational Trust series, where we’ll dive deep into Understanding. For more information and to schedule time with one of our experts, email us at experts@orcahrsolutions.com.