Feb 5 / Lerniq & Bianca Chio

Trust Building and Resilience

Resilience is the capacity to adapt in the face of adversity and change. It's what allows us to bounce back from setbacks and challenges. And it's a critical ingredient for success in today's rapidly changing world

What is 'Trust Building and Resilience'? 

Trust building and resilience are two essential ingredients for the successful functioning of any kind of social group, from a family to an entire society. Trust building is about creating an atmosphere of safety, respect, kindness, communication, and understanding that encourages mutual support. Resilience refers to the ability to adapt in challenging or difficult situations - the capacity not to be overwhelmed by the difficulties life can throw at us and instead find strength within ourselves or others. Trusting others and being resilient helps individuals become part of something bigger than themselves, forming stronger communities with greater long-term well-being.

Why is it important to have trust and resilience in our workplace?

Trust and resilience are essential for employees, workplace managers, and businesses to stay organized and productive. Without trust, employees may begin to doubt their colleagues’ intentions or commitments to carrying out tasks. This introduces a lack of reliability within the team as expectations of adequacy become more difficult to maintain.
At the same time, business leaders, HR professionals, and the line managers of the modern workplace face the challenge of leading employees who lack faith in each other. This affects an organization's ability to create an ecoculture of respect, where employees feel comfortable with speaking up when necessary and can take risks in order to innovate solutions to current problems. An environment in which trust is missing will negatively affect the business objectives and impact the whole organizational performance.
Resilience is essential for dealing with ambition stress in times of difficulty or high pressure. A great example has been the past few years when business leaders had to balance workplace safety, cost savings, and skill gaps due to a severe skills shortage while at the same time, they had to ensure top talent retention, business goals reach, etc.. Individuals need resilience to react appropriately when presented with difficulties like financial hardships or uncertain market conditions.
All in all, trust and resilience are indeed important for sustaining our mental well-being in difficult moments as well as for helping us fulfill our own commitments toward our peers or employers confidently.

How can we embed trust in our workplace relationships?

There are various ways in which we can build trust at work.

a. Open and honest communication 

This is key in order to foster a sense of understanding between colleagues. It can be done through holding regular conversations where employees feel comfortable expressing their thoughts and feelings without fear of judgment. 

b. Create systems that promote clear expectations 

Clear expectations with regard to job roles and responsibilities can help build trust by ensuring that everyone has a clear view and shared goal with respect to their work. 

c. Genuine relationships 

Creating and fostering genuine relationships through activities that bring people together, like team-building events or even lunchtime conversations, can help colleagues bond and create strong connections. 

d. Acknowledge that trust is personal 

Ultimately it comes down to the personal level - it's important to be mindful of our own behavior, such as being honest and respectful in dealing with others. We should also be aware of our colleagues’ feelings and show empathy when needed.

e. Be generous with praise 

One way to build trust is by giving sincere compliments or showing appreciation for one another's work. This will create a positive atmosphere where everyone feels seen, heard, and valued. Be genuine. Flattering someone for other purposes is not conducive to trust but has the opposite effect. Generally people have a real sense of sensing when praise is genuine and when it isn't.

f. Transparency

Creating a culture of transparency and openness helps build trust by maintaining honest communication between coworkers. This includes being open about company policies and decisions or simply sharing the results of projects with the team. By fostering an atmosphere of respect, kindness, communication, and understanding, in our workplaces, we can ensure that everyone feels supported. This leads to trust. 

What are some ways to overcome challenges that prevent us from being trusting and resilient?

Employees and line managers must work together in order to increase trust and resilience within teams. This can be accomplished through open, honest communication. Management with emotional intelligence takes the time to listen closely to employee concerns and grievances that make team members feel unheard or overlooked. They should strive to maximize employee engagement and find out what motivates each employee on a personal level, thus guiding toward improved morale.

Team building activities can also be beneficial in opening the floor for constructive criticism, enhancing communication skills, and gaining respect for one another. Attending training and development programs together as a team has multiple benefits. It not only bonds the team, but it leads to addressing knowledge gaps in a fun manner, knowledge sharing, critical thinking, etc.. Ultimately, it leads to career development by employees who are learning new skills, exceptional productivity improvements, and ultimately to, better employee performance, highly engaged workforce, longer-term employee retention, with a direct business impact on the organization itself.  

Leaders should always focus on celebrating the successes of team members as well as entire teams, no matter how small - this will help build trust from employee to employee and employee to line manager. All of these efforts come together to form a trusting and resilient team that is capable of overcoming any challenge that arises.

How can we use trust-building and resilience to consciously create a more positive workplace environment for ourselves and our organization?

Creating a positive and resilient, and agile workplace environment begins with building trust. We can use techniques such as communication, respect, and collaboration to ensure trust between team members is strong. By knowing each other's strengths, weaknesses, and goals, we are better able to collaborate and build relationships based on mutual understanding.
To build resilience it is important for individuals to have self-care practices that help them manage stress. Creating an environment of support rather than competition helps all individuals in the organization by providing them with constructive resources such as counseling or mentoring programs. When all members of the organization feel that their needs are a priority, they are happier and more productive in their daily activities. Investing in trust-building and resilience ensures that employees feel secure, respected, and valued within the workplace.

Trust-building development professional training programs

A robust employee development program, together with on-the-job training, should be on any company management agenda. Employee training and development programs provide a wide range of benefits for employees and organizations. Such programs focus on skill development, competencies, and knowledge of individual team members in order to enhance their job performance and help them achieve their career goals.
When it comes to trust-building and resilience, such training can be especially beneficial. It provides an opportunity to increase self-awareness, build better relationships with colleagues, and develop strategies for dealing with difficult conversations. It also helps managers analyze employee's current skills, analyze skill gaps and recognize individuals’ unique needs for professional development as well as strengths while developing their trustworthiness. Such programs can help create a safe environment where team members feel comfortable talking openly and honestly with each other, fostering an atmosphere of trust.

Lerniq's Trust Building and Resilience employee training and development program is an online training opportunity, in which participants learn at their own pace, and acquire critical knowledge on the topic. We are aware that skills mastery takes time, but through continued support and continuous training and knowledge application followed by feedback, participants can encounter challenges and overcome them graciously on their employee growth path.

What you will learn in our online Trust Building and Resilience employee training program?

Like all effective employee training programs on the market, our program will enable employees and their leaders to promote transparent communication, to identify different personality types and how to work with them, as well as how to keep stress at bay and stay motivated at the same time. In terms of leadership skills, accepting, managing, and promoting change will complete the development program.

As this is not an instructor-led training event, it can be offered to organizations in its blended version (either online synchronous or classroom training) to complete their skills training needs. We also suggest its inclusion in the onboarding package for the new employees' training in particular, but also in any employee development programs in general.

In Conclusion...

Trust is the foundation of any good relationship. It's what allows us to feel safe and secure with another person, knowing that they have our best interests at heart. Resilience is what enables employees to bounce back when challenges inevitably arise in their relationships.

Together, trust and resilience create a solid foundation on which we can build strong, lasting relationships with others. If you want to learn more about how to build trust in your team, join our online course now. It is not a surprise that it has become one of the most needed skill to master in 2023. Don't miss these exciting development opportunities, and start training your employees today!