Citation
Jacobs, S. (2013), "Trust – the performance currency", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 13 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/SHR-08-2013-0083
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Trust – the performance currency
Article Type: HR at work From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 13, Issue 1
Short case studies and research papers that demonstrate best practice in HR
I dropped my children off at school today and felt secure that they would be cared for and kept safe. I then walked to the station without a second thought that any of the passing cars would mount the pavement running me down. I felt confident as I boarded the train that the driver would get me to my destination in one piece and that each of the strangers in the carriage meant me no harm.
Our brain constantly scans our environment. It pattern matches what it finds to past experience lodged deep in our emotional memories to determine whether we are safe or facing threat. Trust is the perception of safety and associated reward, designed beautifully for our survival – you know it when you feel it and it manifests itself in our behaviour.
Fundamentally our brain works to move us towards reward and away from threat. What if we could tap into this neurobiological fact and apply this to the workplace?
The business case
Trust is business critical, vital for performance. While not a new business topic, the evidence of the part trust plays in organizational success continues to grow. Stephen Covey (2006) has shown that organizations with high trust give three times the total return to shareholders than organizations with low trust. He describes how distrust leads to dysfunctional relationships and how trust is the number one driver for engagement.
Just think for a moment about someone you completely trust – perhaps a parent, a partner, a sibling. Think about how you can be yourself, how little you need to say to convey what you mean, and how quickly you can reach solutions or openly talk about disagreements. Now think about this in terms of your workplace relationships. Do you experience the same efficiency in communication? Trust speeds everything up and allows for honesty and clarity without the fear of recrimination. It provides the foundation for learning, innovation and experimentation.
Working with our wiring
Trust for our brains equates to safety and reward. When we perceive anything we do not trust our brain triggers a micro-second neuro-chemical reaction releasing the hormones needed to get us ready to run or defend for our survival. This survival response, more commonly referred to as fight or flight, is beautifully designed to get us out of danger. As this chemical dance takes place the cognitive, thinking part of the brain has its energy source redeployed to physiological functions far better suited to getting us out of the way.
And this matters to business. Todays threats range from change, to our bosss attitude, to not being able to balance our worlds and so on – crucially our brains reaction is no different to these non-physical threats as to those we faced when we roamed the Savannah. When your employees face what the brain perceives as threat, their capacity to think, make decisions and innovate, is severely compromised. Their behaviour towards others shifts to that of defense, leading to anything from withdrawal to aggression with consequential negative impacts on performance and colleagues.
So what drives trust?
Trust is primarily an internal perception and every individuals perception is unique. So a person, or event, seen by one as trust worthy, can represent threat to another. How we interpret and then act upon what happens to us is greatly influenced by our level of psychological wellbeing and resilience.
As people specialists we cannot shift anothers internal perception but we can start by supporting them to build a resilience framework. We can then focus on the external environment in which they work, from reward strategies to performance management approaches, to build trust and wellbeing. Particularly crucial to this environment is leadership behaviour. Leaders have between a 50 and 70 per cent influence on the culture of the organization – how they act and what they say will, to a very large extent, determine the level of trust that employees feel.
New research has pulled together the eight intrinsic drivers of performance each of which requires, and in turn builds, trust (Jacobs, 2013). Each of these drivers has an evolutionary and survival advantage and can be leveraged to build the workplace for trust. They are:
1. Belong and connect: the feeling that the employee feels part of, and connected to, their team and organization.
2. Voice and recognition: the individuals ability to speak up in a way that allows them to influence decision making.
3. Significance and position: employees sense that they have a clear and important role in their team.
4. Fairness: the understanding that individuals are evenly treated within their team and the organization.
5. Learn and challenge: the opportunity to learn and master new skills and achieve tangible results.
6. Choice and autonomy: the sense of control over workplace delivery.
7. Security and certainty: the sense of predictability and confidence in the workplace environment.
8. Purpose: the understanding of how an individuals role contributes, and is aligned to, the team and organizations success
The research also tested three environmental factors, work-life integration, workload and flexible working – each of which can be influenced by organizational strategy and approach. Each was found to have a very strong correlation to wellbeing and to building trust.
So what do we do with this information?
The researchs primary goal, other than to test the drivers of performance and how they build trust, was to provide practical application. A four-part recommendation was developed, which in summary includes the following:
1. Build the business case for wellbeing and trust, setting it as a goal at the highest strategic level, with a clear link to the organizations strategy.
2. Weave the drivers through every people strategic area to leverage and support every driver, establishing an integrated approach to optimal performance.
3. Build the leadership skills and behaviors for the application of the drivers, starting with building individual resilience, then teaching the associated evidenced-based tools and techniques to drive trust, aligning these skills with everything from leading behavioral change, negotiating a new deal and delivering difficult messages to leading for optimal performance.
4. Evaluate and measure the results supported by evidenced-based analytics and meaningful metrics.
We need to humanize our workplaces, working with our unique and wonderful neurobiological engineering. Not only by doing so will we reap the economic returns but we will boost the wellbeing of every employee, which in turn will benefit our society, families, community and economy.
Susanne Jacobs
References
Covey, S.R. (2006), The Speed of Trust, Simon & Schuster, London
Jacobs, S. (2013), Trust the Performance Currency, Working Families, available at: http://www.workingfamilies.org.uk
About the author
Susanne Jacobs MBA, Chartered FCIPD, NLI is a Director of The Positive Group and a specialist in employee engagement, transformational leadership and optimal performance. Her work draws on over 24 years of strategic business change experience and commercial knowledge working across industry sectors. She spent 19 years with KPMG where she was head of Finance Operations and People for Europe. Jacobs combines her in depth senior leadership and business experience alongside neuroscience to deliver practical sustainable learning and advice. She completed her Masters in International Business with the business schools of Edinburgh University and Paris ENPC and has post graduate certificates in Organisational Development and Advanced Leadership Techniques. She is a chartered fellow of the CIPD and a member of the Neuroleadership Institute. Susanne Jacobs can be contacted at: mailto:susanne.jacobs@positivegroup.org