Three ways to know if Trust is eroding in your organization

I was reading a post from Michael Hyatt today, and it brought to mind Henry Cloud's assertion that Integrity begins by building trust. Not just the kind of trust that says "I don't lie", but a deeper trust in which other people know that I have their best interests at heart.

Here are 3 questions you can ask to evaluate the level of trust in your organization. These are adapted from a post I made a couple years ago about communication and trust.

1. Would you classify the people you work with as: Engaging, Defensive, or Deceptive? How would they classify you? When trust erodes we often become more and more defensive. In the worst cases we go on the offensive and intentionally practice deception, as a preemptive strike of sorts.
2. Do you often ask your boss questions about important decisions, both to gain clarity and to add insights or concerns? Do your direct reports ask similar questions of you? A lack of challenging questions is often indicative of a lack of trust.
3. Think of the last three significant problems your organization faced. Did you know about them before-hand, or did they seem to pop up out of nowhere? When we move from trust to doubt, people begin protecting their own positions rather than the organization. That means that they will stop speaking up about organizational issues and potential problems, especially if in their own department, for fear of being blamed for the issue.

The post from Hyatt that I listed above has some good ideas on how to rebuild trust if you find that it is eroding in your organization. The key is that someone has to start the process. That requires risk due to vulnerability.

Join the conversation! Leave a comment below if you have some other ways to evaluate the level of trust in your organization.

[Image from http://trextrying.tumblr.com/post/18790900701/t-rex-trying-to-do-a-trust-fall-trextrying]