The quality of workplace relations is dynamic. External and internal elements can affect how teams get along. Effective teams are key to an organization’s success, and as we discussed in this post, much of this is based on the level of trust experienced within a team.
To begin to understand these dynamics, we recently surveyed our staff to explore what trust in the workplace means to them. Understanding that people are the most valuable part of our organization, hearing what they have to say is very important to us. We learned many things from what they shared with us, but if we could distill it into a few points, these are the keys to building and sustaining trust:
- Ongoing communication, both being heard and hearing others
- Empathy
- Transparency
- Accountability
The Trust Toolkit
Because of the central importance of trust in our mission and in protecting the well-being of all our faculty, learners, and staff, UCSF created a Trust Toolkit. You can find it here: https://learning.ucsf.edu/trust-toolkit
An evaluation such as this is a valuable wellness check for any institution. These resources can help you determine if you need to strengthen trust within your team, rebuild trust if needed, or restore trust if people feel that their workplace has lost this critical ingredient.
It’s vital to pay attention to the people who make up an organization. We want to be certain that teams are healthy, and people are working together to maintain respect and empathy. Still, much like a plant needs to be watered at intervals in order to grow, we can’t do this just once and consider it done. Our strength lies within our diversity, and we have to be intentional in our efforts daily, and work towards enhancing our connectedness to build cohesive teams.
