Page 219 - Build a Culture of Employee Engagement with the Principles

190 Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work

he or she should have heard from you, trust will be seriously
compromised.
6. Transparency. The more open and transparent you and
your organization are when making business decisions, the
greater the trust and respect employees will have for you
and the organization. Leaders who withhold information and
cloak processes will be perceived as untrustworthy and dis-
trusting of employees. I cannot think of any business infor-
mation that should not be shared with employees.
7. Communicate. One of the best ways to build trust, espe-
cially during difficult economic times, is simply to commu-
nicate. In fact, overcommunicate and be proactive about it:
send out memos, hold individual and group meetings, publish
meeting minutes and weekly updates. The more your employ-
ees feel that they are being kept in the loop, the more trusted
and respected they will feel.
8. Confidentiality. Let others know that they may speak
“off the record” and that you will keep it confidential. If you
are concerned that a co-worker may be telling you something
that you may be obligated to disclose, let him or her know
that in advance.
9. Flextime. Flextime, discussed in the previous chapter,
not only shows consideration by allowing employees to work
partly from home or come in during off-hours, but it also
earns you points in the trust category. If you want a highly
engaged workforce, offer flextime.
10. Company money. Nothing shows trust more than allow-
ing employees to spend company money without having to
get approval. Depending on corporate policies, create a team
rule that any employee can spend X dollars without getting
approval. As I said to one of my team members, “If I didn’t