Page 221 - Build a Culture of Employee Engagement with the Principles

192 Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work

always done excellent work and I have no reason to think
otherwise now,” or “We need to table this discussion until
we have more information,” or “Let’s assume that the work
is accurate, and I will follow up with him later.” Have your
employees’ backs and they will have yours.
17. Trust your employees. Take your employees’ word
without questioning or checking up on them. Act in ways
that demonstrate that you trust what your employees say to
be true.
18. “I trust you.” If you have delegated a challenging
assignment to a team member and he or she comes to you
concerned about being able to accomplish the task, say, “I
trust you to do this or I wouldn’t have given it to you.” Obvi-
ously, provide the employee with assistance if needed; oth-
erwise you will send the individual off feeling as though you
don’t understand or care about his or her concerns.

As you go about increasing trust in your relationships, keep in
mind that people differ widely in their inclination and approach
to trusting others. While some people start from a default posi-
tion of trust and do so until they have a reason not to, others
may require years of demonstrated loyalty and dedication before
trusting others. Without question, the opportunity for trust to
increase or decrease goes up over time with shared experiences
and history. It is as though we have a bank account of trust
and can earn points or have points deducted depending on our
behavior over time. For example, you can earn trust points when
you are straightforward with an employee over a difficult issue,
defend an employee’s decision during a meeting, or consistently
follow up on your commitments. How many points are in your
trust account?