What is actually organizational trust and how does it affect us?

What comes to your mind when you think about trust? 

A romantic relationship? 

A friendship? 

Or your relationship with your colleagues? I think this one would not be your first guess..

In the past, trust at the workplace was not really a focus for companies however nowadays organizational trust takes up a very important space on managers' and employees' desks.

Organizational trust, we use it so often or not, is something in the middle of every employee's work life.Since the topic is very essential, it has been investigated by many researchers from different fields.

Honestly, it really took an effort and a while to come to a conclusion. Well, here it is:

It may not look very appealing. Let me try to explain it in a better way based on Davis and Mayer`s (1995) definition. In case of organizational trust, trustors trust to the trustees even though they cannot keep an eye on their actions. The important thing is these actions ,most of the time, are important for the trustors. By trusting trustees, they take the risk and become vulnerable. Clearly it is based on the trustworthiness of the trustees. So the trustors un/consciously evaluate the ability of the trustees, if they are helpful and also honest. When the answers are positive, we are ready to take the risk. Maybe this definition/model also explains why it is sometimes hard to trust.

What happens when we trust our team members, our manager or our company itself?

A short outcomes list is here to explain this:

·         The communication within the organization becomes more honest and open (for real)

·         Conflict management speeds up

·         Management and employees become more reachable

·         Collaboration between employees and departments increases

·         Employees are willing to share information and knowledge with each other (information
sharing is the future)

·         Employees begin to help each other more

·         Job engagement and performance increase

These are the outcomes in a nutshell. It is clear, trust at work is very essential both for employees and for the organization itself. If you think `This is definitely what I have!`, lucky you!! Keep going!!  

If not, a few suggestions may help you to increase the level of trust in your team:

•  Have a team working agreement and actually follow it!

           Add the rules about being open and honest

•    Take care of your colleagues!

         Help and support them when they need. It is always very relieving to know someone will be      there for you. And most of the people know the value of it.

•    Don`t gossip.

         Do you know these office gossips? How would you feel if you heard the same things being told for you by your colleagues? How can you really trust them again

•    Appreciate their work

         This gives the feeling that you see them, you know them, you like the work they do.

•   Be kind

Say please, thank you or I am sorry. Whatever it is necessary in that situation. This shows you have respect for the others. As Khalil Gibran said “The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the greatest intention”.