Thanks for joining us on Season 7 of The Flourishing Culture Podcast, brought to you by The Best Christian Workplaces Institute. You’ll learn how to build a flourishing workplace culture that drives the ministry impact of your organization, your church, or your company brought to you by the Best Christian Workplaces Institute. Now here’s your host, BCWI CEO, Al Lopus.
If there was one thing that you could work on as a leader that would improve your relationship with others, and your organization’s effectiveness, what would it be? In today’s episode, we discuss building trust, the core to Inspirational Leaders, and a Flourishing Workplace.
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As we face the challenges of the Great Resignation, we believe a flourishing culture is the anecdote to unwanted turnover. In the United States, we have been experiencing high levels of Americans quitting their jobs. Just last November 4.5 million quit their jobs. December wasn’t much better as 4.3 million quit their jobs.
To complement those quitting their jobs, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported there were 10.9 job openings in January 2022. These are record numbers with no end in sight.
Accelerating this employee-focused labor market are two other challenges for employers. The labor market is tight with unemployment at the low level of 4% and inflation accelerating to 7% on an annual basis. Inflation is a new high since June of 1982! This is also creating wage pressures for organizations that haven’t seen them in 40 years.
What tools do employers have to address these challenges? We believe the antidote to the Great Resignation is a flourishing workplace. We are excited about our new book coming out April 19, 2022, called Road to Flourishing: Eight Keys to Boost Employee Engagement and Well-Being.
At the core of a flourishing workplace is the level of trust that exists between leaders, leaders and employees, and among employee groups. Today our podcast topic is Building Trust, the Core of Inspirational Leadership, and a Flourishing Workplace.
Joining me today is BCWI’s president, Jay Bransford. Jay welcome back to the flourishing culture podcast.
Trust is the glue that holds relationships and culture together and it creates engagement in the workplace.”
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
- The definition of “trust” that we use comes from the International Association of Business Communicators: Trust is the organization’s willingness, based upon its culture and communication behaviors in relationships and transactions, to be open and honest, based on the belief that another individual, group, or organization is also competent, open and honest, concerned, reliable, and identified with common goals, norms, and values. (03:13)
- “Trust is complex and quite a few things can build or break trust. The communal aspect of trust is a culture of competence, honesty, and reliability, along with good communication and common vision.” (03:49)
- We like this definition because it reflects the communal aspect of trust, a culture of competence, honesty, and reliability along with good communication and common vision. (04:19)
- Trust is a feeling one person has for another person’s capability and reliability supported by their past actions. (04:52)
- In the book, Speed of Trust, Steven MR Covey creates a very compelling image when discussing the importance of trust in organizations. He puts trust into a very simple formula: Increased trust among coworkers produces an increased speed of efficiency and a decrease in cost because they can get more things done. (05:24)
- “Trust is the glue that holds relationships and culture together and it creates engagement in the workplace.” (06:07)
- As an example, I remember working with an organization that had significant trust issues. During their leadership team meetings, progress and change had slowed because one team member accused a colleague of skewing results to make his department look better. Suddenly, the leadership team had to focus their attention on proving they had not done something wrong to a hostile department head, instead of working to improve their organization and serving their ministry recipients. This never would have happened in an environment based on trust. Bottom line: Work productivity increases significantly in a high trust environment. (06:16)
- At BCWI, we have found three commitments to be highly effective in creating and sustaining effective levels of trust. (07:03)
- Lead with character (07:17)
- Shift focus from “doing activities” to “achieving results.” (08:30)
- Expect to win. (08:45)
- Develop the strength and stamina to finish strong. (09:06)
- Cultivate consistent integrity (09:44)
- Keep the communication going both ways (12:01)
- Demonstrate concern (14:52)
- Five strategies to overcome distrust (19:14)
- Changing the Leadership
- Rallying around a crisis or opportunity
- Breaking the structural frame that caused the trust to be broken
- Eliminating trust eroding practices
- Stressing teamwork to achieve results
- Capitalizing on collective wins
- Eight things high trust teams do to flourish (23:19)
- Ask yourself and your teammates each of the following questions: (23:26)
- Who are we?
- Where are we now?
- Where are we going?
- How will we get there?
- How will we get there?
- What is expected of us?
- What support do we need?
- How effective are we?
- What recognition do we get?
Trust is complex and quite a few things can build or break trust. The communal aspect of trust is a culture of competence, honesty, and reliability, along with good communication and a common vision.”
Additional Resources
Download BCWI’s four-page guide for inspirational leadership in crisis for FREE.
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