Promoting a culture of trust is paramount for a successful workplace that delivers long-term benefits for both the employer and the employee.

These benefits can include higher productivity and quality of work, all thanks to making your employees feel valued in your organization.

Paul J. Zak the founding director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies and a professor of economics, psychology, and management at Claremont Graduate University, wrote for Harvard Business Review on how to instill trust in your employees.

The trust factor, though, is directly linked to the response the brain makes when the individual is appreciated and placed in a meaningful role. The impetus of Zak’s research led him to reveal that the scientific backing for trust is the fact that humans are naturally inclined to trust through neurological signals that allow differentiation between trusting or distrusting someone.

Coming to this conclusion, Zak — through his scientific applications on brain chemistry surrounding — was able to come up with a survey tool to cultivate and manage the trust of your employees and corporate culture.

Typically, a supervisor would have to demonstrate eight specific management behaviors as the key to foster a culture of trust with employees. The eight behaviors are:

  1. Recognize excellence.
  2. Induce “challenge stress.”
  3. Give people discretion in how they do their work.
  4. Enable job crafting (or choosing the projects one will do).
  5. Share information broadly.
  6. Intentionally build relationships.
  7. Facilitate whole-person growth.
  8. Show vulnerability.

When you can properly show these eight behaviors, Zak argues that your employees will be more likely to show trust to you and the company. However, the role of returning trust is paramount, as well.

 

Do you use these behaviors? Let us know in the comments.

 

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