Mr HR Manager , There is an elephant in the room !

My own data & findings are not new. It further corroborates which most always feared was the case. Human resource function has to work more to make employees trust people and organizations.

Trust has been long been seen & believed as one key factor in helping people create long lasting and fruitful relationships. Yet we find that this subject is not being discussed by HR at senior levels. Is not building relationship between employees, organization the basis to attracting & retaining talent?

HR and HR systems are very important to the process of building trust. If we do not change the basic HR processes around promotion, appraisal, reward, leader selection and so on to reflect the importance of trust to the organisation, we are not going to get trust.” And it’s just as important for organisations that already have high levels of trust to maintain them.

Here in lies the biggest challenge for HR. HR itself is not trusted by employees.

HR is seen & perceived as siding with top management. The exercise of annual performance appraisal leads a lot to be desired and HR is seen as people & function holding back more than revealing. There association and anchoring of any right sizing & restructuring exercise in the organization also creates trust issues with employees.

HR is also challenged by behaviours at leadership level added to the fact that senior leadership teams tend not to project a cohesive picture. Irrespective HR has a role to play in building & help resolve trust issues? There will always be issues in top teams, but the more dysfunctional they are, the less people trust them. Making sure the head office works as a team and supports the organisation is something HR rarely thinks about.

Why does trust matter at all? Leaders achieve success with teams when they show
& share their vulnerabilities. The willingness for somebody to take a risk, to allow themselves to feel vulnerable, believing the other person has an attitude of goodwill towards them is all about trust building.

It is not engagement. Trust is much more fundamental. If employee just trusts his boss and not the senior leadership team, we can do masses of engagement activities, yet there shall be no radical rise in performance, as people will be viewing those activities through a lens of distrust.Trustworthiness is based on four main drivers: benevolence, ability, predictability and integrity. 

It is not easy. But then HR manager has to decide to get back the respect for his role, team and function. It will be worth the effort. Make a beginning. Make people see the elephant in the room.

Talk about Trust. Make it explicit. 

Establish the business link of trust to results and performance. 

Begin from the leadership level, help them develop self -awareness “How good are they at understanding and managing relationships from their perspective as a leader.”

Invest in training & coaching leaders. 

Help people surface out trust issues, put them on the table and discuss them. Be the facilitator. 

 The role & job is cut out. HR must lead the way and bring trust issues on the table. This “elephant in the room” can be ignored only at the cost of organizational performance in these challenging & competitive times. Begin now.