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When trust has been broken within an organisation leaders often mistakenly think people can be taken from distrust to trust in one jump. However, there are several stages to rebuilding trust and the actions you need to take depend on where you are on this journey.
The factors that lead to a loss of trust are often complex, multi-layered, a mix of tangible and intangible, and most difficult of all, passed down from existing to new employees, even if the thing that led to a loss of trust has passed or been resolved.
Indicators that trust is an issue in your organisation
People often wear a mask when engaging with leaders, regardless of how open those leaders are, which makes it hard to unpick what’s really going on with trust.
There several clues which can help you uncover whether you have an issue with trust in your organisation.
These are just some examples, and I’m sure you can think of others.
The Full Colour© model of trust
The following are stages an organisation will go through in rebuilding trust. It is important to plan a clear journey from one stage to the next in sequence. It may feel like this will take ages, but ultimately working through this step by step will save you time. Skipping stages will either result in failure, or worse, deepening distrust. Full Colour Trust Model© |
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Full Colour Trust Model© |
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Several organisations I have chatted with recently are going through crises, some linked to restructuring, some linked to HR concerns, some linked to issues that could lead to media crises.
A common theme in how they describe these challenges is the lack of thought being given to keeping people as psychologically safe as possible.
Let’s be clear, psychologically safety is not the same as mental wellbeing, though I would encourage you to think about that too. Psychological safety is about giving people the tools to navigate the crisis, pull together and contribute to getting your organisation through whatever you are facing, even when they might be personally affected.
What often happens in a crisis is that leaders focus on process, e.g. getting the right legal advice, figuring out which functions to downsize, etc.
Working out the practical stuff is essential, but so is planning – or at the very least being aware of – the emotional journey of those around you as your organisation goes through the crisis
Planning for emotions can mean the difference between, for example:
Building psychological safety into crisis planning isn’t about being soft. It is about ensuring your organisation comes out the other end intact, and ready to rise again
Below are three things to think about in navigating psychological safety in a crisis.
Leader resilience
People take many of their emotional cues from leaders. Appearing – and being – calm and in control during a crisis gives those around a leader confidence that the organisation (and they as individuals) will survive.
If a leader can build and maintain their own psychological safety and resilience during a crisis, they are likely to avoid the “I know best/ I need to lead from the front” trap so many fall into, and instead listen to advice that perhaps goes contrary to their own thinking, but might lead to better decisions. They will exude greater confidence, making those around them feel safer. They will be better able to problem solve. They will be better able to spot the opportunity in the crisis. The list goes on…
Everyone is different in terms of what they need to feel resilient. Whether it’s keeping up with your usual fitness regime, going to bed early, playing with the kids, having 20 minutes in the morning to read a novel, meditating – whatever it is, leaders tend to sacrifice the very things that will keep them going when they need them most.
It’s tempting to tell ourselves we don’t have time for these things during a crisis, but without them we will be poorer leaders and will not be serving our organisations as well as we otherwise could.
Be clear about what you can be clear about
I find it extraordinary that leaders announce major challenges like restructures without first thinking through or communicating the most basic things, such as timelines, who makes decisions, what information they can and can’t share (for legal reasons) and the different steps in the process. It is like asking people to climb a cliff face in a storm without providing ropes or crampons.
In a crisis lots of things emerge as we go. But there is a lot we can do to minimise uncertainty, such as defining the key points at which people will find out more, saying who is leading on the different elements of managing the crisis, who to go to if people have questions, what support will be available for people, the key facts that have led to the crisis (obviously avoiding anything that is legally sensitive).
The more certainty you can provide in the overall uncertainty of a crisis, the safer people will feel and the less damage to trust and productivity.
Get an outside perspective
It is very easy to lose our sense of perspective when going through a crisis, partly because of the intensity and pace of work, partly because of how we as leaders are feeling and partly because of how those around us react.
It is well worth carving out time during a crisis to speak with someone regularly who is not mired in what you and your organisation are going through.
Whether it is a trusted fellow leader from another organisation with whom you can speak in confidence, a coach, a crisis expert. Whoever it is, get some regular sessions in the diary, and stick to them.
If you think you can’t afford the money because you are in a financial crisis, think again. A good coach or crisis consultant will earn their fee several fold in what they will save you in loss of key staff who decide to move on because you mishandled a crisis, recruitment costs to replace these people, loss of productivity (in yourself and others)…you get the picture.
If you think you can’t afford the time, think again. A regular hour or even half hour with the right person will fast track your thinking, understanding and decision making.
How people around you respond in a crisis is ultimately out of your control, but you can give them structure that enables greater psychological safety, and gives you a far better chance of surviving and growing from a crisis.
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Full Colour Friday: Building psychological safety in a crisis
