One of my best employees lost faith in me. I advanced quickly; I did not communicate. It felt like someone was twisting a nail around my heart – rusty and rotten. I was frustrated. I wrote a book about trust and I failed it again.
I was disappointed in myself for hurting an employee. I had a chance to exude confidence and competence, and I squandered it, causing him pain and anguish and destroying his confidence. This fallout of confidence (which was my fault) came from a lack of connection. I didn’t give her the essential time, respect, or communication when she needed me most.
Broken trust, while inevitable, is one of the toughest problems a business will ever face, and I faced it head-on. I knew that a breach of trust could have serious repercussions on my organizational culture, my morale and my bottom line.
So I took action, following my own advice, because I know it is possible to trust once broken. To help you do the same, here are five tips that can help restore trust in your organization:
5 tips to restore trust with employees (after breaking it)
1. Be transparent
It is essential to be open and honest with employees about the issues that caused the breach of trust. Don’t hide behind a wall of silence – be candid about what happened and what steps you are taking to prevent similar issues from happening in the future. Transparency enhances stabilityencourages collaboration and helps create a sense of security within the organization.
2. Listen carefully
It’s time to stop talking and really listen. Be considerate when communicating with people affected by your error. Being an active listener means empathizing with their feelings, understanding their perspective, being receptive to constructive criticism, and learning from your mistakes instead of repeating them in the future.
Sitting in silence and listening can be difficult, but if you respect the relationship enough to care about fixing it, it’s worth the hard work. Listening carefully helps create an environment in which both parties can express themselves honestly without feeling judged or criticized for it – and this is essential for any relationship based on mutual respect and understanding in the future.
3. Acknowledge the error(s)
Fess up when you mess up. Once you truly understand the mistake, the next step in rebuilding trust is to acknowledge your own mistakes. If you’ve done something to break someone else’s trust, you need to genuinely apologize and accept responsibility for your actions. This shows that you understand and acknowledge what happened, which will go a long way in restoring broken trust. Nobody likes to admit they’re wrong. True leaders know that to err is human, and since we are all human, we will make mistakes, it’s what we do with them that counts.
4. Take Action
You must also take concrete steps to demonstrate your commitment to repairing the damage caused by the error. For example, if you made a mistake on a customer’s order, offer them a discount or free shipping as a sign of goodwill. It shows that you are serious about fixing things and want to rebuild your relationship with them. You do not know where to start ? Ask – a simple how can I help fix this will start the trust repair process.
5. Overcommunicate
Effective communication is key to restoring trust after an outage. Effective communication is about committing to over-communicating early and often. Determine what you are going to say and regularly communicate these messages to employees, so that they feel heard and stay informed of any changes or developments related to the issue. It also helps ensure that all stakeholders understand their roles and responsibilities when rebuilding trust in the workplace.
Rebuilding trust once it’s broken takes work, but it’s possible if done right. By being transparent about ongoing issues; Listen carefully; acknowledge your error; To take part; and communicate effectively once progress has been made to restore trust within an organization – you will be well on your way to repairing damaged relationships both internally and externally that may have been affected by broken trust in your company’s past. So don’t lose hope – no matter how bad things seem, there’s always light at the end of every tunnel, even in business.
Ingrid Christen is an entrepreneur, business leader and passionate advocate for equal access to information for everyone, regardless of the language they speak. INGCO International President and Founder, Ingrid, started the business in 2006 after witnessing firsthand how translation and interpreting services connect and connect people from different cultures. Ingrid is also the author of The Language of Trust: Communicating to Build Meaningful Relationships in Business and Life.