Business First September 2017 Business First September 2017 | Page 61

Why are Trusting Relationships so
important in today’s professional
environment?
by Nigel Purse, Director at The Oxford Group
n any organisation, you will have your
boss, people working directly for you,
customers, suppliers and a whole range of
other people who contribute to the
company’s success, and I can guarantee you r
relationships with each of these groups of
people will differ.
Some of the relationships will be natural,
fun and open, whilst others will be false,
strained and even non­existent… and I’m sure
you’ll have reflected on how much better
results you’d get if only you could ‘get on’
with some people!
We all want great results at work, and so if
that means takingconscious steps to establish
positive and open relationships with key
people you work with, then it’s worth trying.
How do you do this with people you may
not otherwise feel comfortable with?
It is important that these trusting
relationships are developed in the early
stages of a working partnership otherwise
you risk losing a vital opportunity to lay the
foundations for working together effectively.
In the workplace environment, trust is built
very similarly to the trust we all experience in
our private lives.
It is developed through how we treat and
interact with each other. The quality of
conversations we have with each other
matters deeply – so take time to talk and find
out what’s important to the other person.
As well as talking and listening, take care to
follow up and act consistently, honestly and
congruently.
A successful and productive conversation
followed by unreliable or dishonest
behaviour can quickly damage or even
destroy the trust which has been built over
time.
Consistently having productive, open and
honest conversations is key to maintaining
trust. However, it is all too easy to fall into
bad habits with our relationships, both inside
and outside of work.
For example, it’s not too unusual for
couples to let their relationships get stuck on
a plateau by becoming uninterested in each
other. This is also the case in the workplace.
You may make the effort in a new working
relationship to establish some common
ground such as shared interests and career
experiences but how often do you switch to
auto pilot and stop making this conscious
I
effort with one another once you are settled
in your roles? Relationships at work need to
be maintained as much as personal ones do
As a leader, having conversations
with the people you work with and
building trust is key to getting
things done.
When employees feel comfortable
discussing their opinions and thoughts, the
organisation is open to ideas, collaborations
and growth possibilities. Without trust,
members of staff are more susceptible to
being closed and defensive, making company
brainstorms and innovation drives difficult.
Having trust within a team can even
improve efficiency and engagement. Feeling
comfortable in the workplace often increases
a person’s willingness to go the extra mile
and they are more likely to feel proud to
belong to that organisation.
With trust comes improved efficiency, as it
decreases bureaucracy and confrontations,
which in turn reduces costs and increases the
speed at which tasks are completed.
Increased trust also enables managers and
business leaders to tailor the way they work
with each member of staff. It gives them the
insights to fine­tune the way tasks are
delegated, the way they coach and also
challenge or support each team member.
All of these contribute towards creating the
exact conditions each person needs to be fully
engaged and deliver peak performance. Also
from the team member’s point of view, it
allows them to understand how their
manager works and what makes them ‘tick’.
At a business level, one of the most
important reasons for building trusting
relationships between leaders and their team
members is to retain and get the most out of
employees.
When relationships between levels start to
break down, members of staff become
disengaged, unmotivated and unproductive.
In the worst cases, employees may decide
to leave the organisation and bring claims
against the organisation, increasing the cost
of recruitment and even damaging the
company’s reputation.
However, this deterioration of relationships
can easily be avoided by holding honest, open
conversations. This is arguably the quickest
and easiest way to improve employee
engagement and thus business performance.
It may not be possible for you to develop
deep, meaningful and open relationships with
everyone in the organisation, especially if you
are a leader seeking to build a team to deliver
challenging, stretching organisational
objectives in times of change and stress.
However, just making that conscious effort
to have open conversations and connect with
one another will improve your efficiency and
productivity as well as engaging people with
what your company is trying to achieve.
About Nigel Purse
Nigel founded The Oxford Group in 1987
following a career in HR and business
management with the Mars Corporation and
Burmah Oil (now part of BP). Nigel is
passionate about developing leadership
capability in leaders of all ages, and writes and
speaks regularly on this subject for audiences
worldwide.
He is the author of ‘Five Conversations’ and
leads the associated training programmes
which transform trust, performance and
engagement at work. Nigel’s areas of expertise
include talent identification and development,
leadership development and behavioural
interviewing.
www.businessfirstonline.co.uk
59