Building Trauma Informed Workplaces — Trust & Transparency

This is part three of the series on building Trauma Informed workplaces; if you haven’t read the introductory article, you can read it here.

As we build trauma informed workplace cultures, we are focusing on seven foundational principles based on work created by SAMSHA for trauma informed care.

These principles are as follows: Safety, Trust & Transparency, Community, Collaboration, Empowerment, Humility & Responsiveness, and Cultural, Historical, & Gender issues. You can read the article on Safety here.

Today we are discussing trust and transparency’s roles in building trauma informed workplace cultures. The existence of trust, or lack thereof, is a foundational component of any interpersonal relationship. As we’ve all experienced, interpersonal relationships are central to the modern workplace.

Therefore, as we build trauma informed workplaces cultures, we must also seek to understand the importance of trust within organizations and how to build trust within and among teams.

In addition to being a foundational principle of building a trauma informed workplace, trust also provides significant benefits for organizations, including:

• 76% more engagement,
• 13% fewer sick days,
• 40% less burnout,
• 50% increase in productivity, &
• 66% increase in team unity.

The benefits of building trust throughout an organization are clear, so what actions can leaders and organizations take to do so?

Reflect on Your Relationship with Trust

Understanding how to build trust across all levels of the organization should start with self-reflection. Seek to understand your approach to trust and any key experiences that have shaped your relationship with trusting others.

There are two primary ways people approach trust:

Automatic ‘trusters’ approach a new relationship with at least some level of trust, initially trusting the other party unless something happens to break that trust. Think of this as an inclination to give others the benefit of the doubt.

• These individuals are less affected by actions to build trust. However, trust infractions trigger a more severe and long-lasting backlash.

Evidence-based ‘trusters’ approach a new relationship with distrust as the default.

• Trust will take time to establish and be based on trust cues and alignment of words and actions. Once trust is established, only major infractions are likely to undermine the trust in a relationship in a significant way.

It is important that we keep in mind that there is no wrong way to approach trust. In fact, avoiding judgement in this area is key because approaches to trust may be tied to prior traumatic experience. Equally important is avoiding the assumption that others trust in the same way we do.

It may be frustrating to build a relationship with another person whose approach to trust does not mirror your own. This may be more evident at the beginning of a relationship as you work to build trust. It is also important to note that how trust evolves throughout the relationship differs for these two types of ‘trusters’ as well. An infringement of trust to one will not be as significant to the other- potentially creating an atmosphere that further fractures the trusting relationship.

Understanding your own approach to trust and any ‘baggage’ you have as it relates to trust at work will help you tailor a strategy that works for you in creating a trusting environment for your team.

Create and Maintain Positive, Authentic Relationships

Trust doesn’t exist where no relationship exists. Focusing on creating and maintaining positive, authentic relationships with your team and throughout your organization is the basis for trust. These relationships must be reciprocal, that is they benefit both parties, not just you.

It is important to be authentic in forming these relationships, so you are not accidentally eroding your credibility by presenting thoughts or actions that are inconsistent, which erodes trust.

Demonstrate Expertise and Sound Judgement

People trust others who know what they are doing and talking about. Making sure you demonstrate your expertise at work, within the context of your job, helps build trust. The great news here is that by doing your job well, you can build trust.

This also goes for showing sound judgment and decision-making. Showing strong problem-solving and judgment can help you build trust as well. A tip here is to not be afraid to share your reasoning or how you resolved a problem transparently to aid in building that credibility faster.

Consistency in Word and Deed

Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Under-promise and over-deliver. Don’t make promises you don’t intend to keep. Do what you say you’ll do.

All of these are phrases you’ve probably heard, and they get to the heart of consistency between your words and your actions. Building trust is often about following through; make sure your actions are consistent with your words. This also means setting the example for your team — when you ask them to do something, make sure you are willing to do it yourself — or even better let them see you do it. Hypocrisy and broken promises are the enemies of building trust.

Transparency as a Tool to Build Trust

Transparency is a powerful tool to build trust. Sharing information openly and candidly regularly with your team helps them understand what is going on in the organization and helps them better connect their roles to the company overall.

I recommend leaders leverage thoughtful transparency to build trust with and amount teams. When referencing thoughtful transparency, it means that as much relevant and helpful information is shared with your team. It is also means that in sharing this information no other trusting relationship is betrayed and that the information is not confidential.

Be transparent about what you know with high certainty. When you are in a position of authority or power, “maybes” and “what ifs” cannot create unnecessary uncertainty and distress among your team. We will talk more about this concept when we discuss Collaboration in more detail.

Examples of transparency in action look like this:

• Setting clear expectations,
• Sharing company KPI and results with the team,
• Answering questions from all levels in the organization,
• Recognizing missteps and outlining plans for resolution,
• Salary transparency, and
• Performance and Promotion process transparency, among many others.

Building Trust at Every Level

Trust exists within various relationships and to build a trauma informed culture, you must seek to build trust at every level within the organization- peer to peer, within a team, employee to manager, team to leader, among teams, and for the organization as a whole.

It can be a lot to tackle and perhaps it is, however, eroding trust within any of these relationships can impact the trust in the whole organization and detract from the employee experience and goal of a trauma informed workplace.

To ensure trust at every level, organizations should make trust and transparency part of the culture of the organization, represented in processes and policies or in core values. Each member of the team, managers, and leaders must know how to build trust. Invest in training and ongoing efforts to build and maintain trusting relationships.

The Challenge of Repairing Trust

Trust is much easier to build than it is to rebuild, regardless of the type of ‘trusters’ you have within your organization. The best solution is prevention, but sometimes you are not able to control broken trust. Perhaps you are a new manager on a team with trust issues or previous leaders eroded organizational trust. When faced with these challenges, how can leaders seek to rebuild broken trust?

First, acknowledge the lack of trust or the issue of betrayal and honor the experiences of the team. Then, make sure to display trust actively as a leader. Beginning with trust- even if it is uncomfortable, is key to rebuilding it. From there, double down on the same behaviors that you would use to build and maintain trust. This change may take time and you may need to remove parties that eroded trust to help eliminate the issue, but building a trusting, trauma informed organization is worth it.

With trusting relationships, rooted in transparency, your organization can be well on its way to building a trauma informed workplace culture and experiencing the benefits of a trusting culture. Remember, trust must be built and maintained. Once you’ve planted the seed, continue to water it and enjoy how it blossoms over time.

Make sure to hit ‘follow’ to ensure you don’t miss upcoming discussions over the next few weeks on the other principles of trauma informed cultures.