10 Steps to Gain (or Regain) Your Employees’ Trust

When it comes to leadership, few things are as important as your employees’ trust in you. Once you lose it, it’s very hard to earn it back. Follow these 10 tips to build your employees’ trust (or rebuild it once it’s lost):

1. Align your words and actions. Follow through with your commitments and promises. Honor the behaviors you claim are important to you—and engage in them yourself.
2. Give credit to those who deserve it. When you present a success to your boss, acknowledge the person or people who made it happen. Your boss will equate your team’s successes with your leadership successes, and your employees won’t resent you for stealing their glory.
3. Keep an even emotional keel. Stay professional—especially when things go wrong.
4. Invest in your employees. Give your staff opportunities to improve and learn new skills. Offer them chances to take on new tasks. When they see that you are invested in their future, they’ll trust you more in the present.
5. Share information. Some information is confidential, of course, but be open about the rest. Ease your team’s fears by explaining what’s going on and why. Don’t let them be the last to find out about organizational changes.
6. Stop micromanaging. When you make an assignment, clarify the objectives and deadlines, but have the confidence in your employees to let them figure out the best steps to get there.
7. Put an end to gossip and bullying. As a leader it’s  inappropriate for you to engage in gossip about your co-workers. When you hear it—or see any signs of bullying—nip it in the bud immediately.
8. Listen to your staff. Often front-line employees have the clearest insight about potential organizational improvements. Pay attention to what they say. Better yet, ask them for their thoughts.
9. Don’t harp on failures. You need to address problems and mistakes to figure out what you and your team can learn from them, but keep the focus on the future, not the past. You shouldn’t stifle intelligent risk-taking behavior; it’s an asset that you want to foster in your employees.
10. Be effective. Identify your weaknesses as a leader and as an employee of your organization, and take action to overcome them. If your employees think you’re incompetent, they won’t trust you—and rightly so.