Why Is Trust Important In An Organisation?

Trust is the belief as well as confidence in the integrity, reliability and fairness of a person or organisation. Trust is an essential human value. Trust is the lubrication which makes sure that teams are kept functional when conflict arises. It is difficult to obtain and, if abused, is harder to salvage. If trust is destroyed, people will be asked to, or choose to, leave the organisation.

What Behaviours Destroy Trust?

• Competition between workers
• Lack of follow-through
• Not walking the talk
• Falsifying information
• Withholding praise
• Inconsistency and lack of predictability

Trust leads to more trust; distrust breeds more distrust. If you are wanting to gain your team’s trust you have to show that you trust and respect them. Team leaders should keep this in mind with every decision they make.

What Are The Different Dimensions Of Trust?

• Integrity
• Competence
• Consistency
• Loyalty
• Openness

When making decisions in and for a team, a team leader should do the following:

• Act from a position of integrity so that everyone benefits.
• Be open and transparent. If certain sensitive information cannot be revealed, tell the members. Do not lie to them.
• Seek the best interests of the team.

Communicate Effectively

• Keep team members informed by explaining decisions and policies.
• Provide constant and accurate feedback.
• Be honest and open about problems and your own limitations.

Be Supportive

• Be available and approachable.
• Encourage and support team members’ ideas.
• Show that you are available and

approachable if they have any problems or need support or advice and that team members’ suggestions are considered in decision-making.

Be Respectful

Delegate with authority, always be fair and consistent, listen to your team members’ ideas and suggestions, be respectful of their differences, background and opinions

Be Fair

• Give credit where it is due.
• Be objective as well as impartial in performance evaluations and feedback.
• Be generous with your praise.
• Be fair in the decisions you make.

Be Predictable

Be consistent in the way you interact with members and in your daily supervision. Keep your promises and your commitments.

Demonstrate Personal Competence

Develop the admiration and respect of team members by demonstrating technical and professional ability and good business sense. By being a role model you are setting a positive example for the rest of the team.

Be Honest

It is important that both you and your team understand the difference between “yes” and ”no”.  When you’re saying “yes” and you really mean “no”, you lose personal power. When you say what you mean, and do what you say, you will be regarded as trustworthy.

Being trustworthy is an essential quality of a sales manager. This is because if the people in your team don’t trust that you’re doing the best that you can to develop strategies that will generate sales in the business they won’t follow you.

Get in touch with the Digital School of Marketing

Learn more about developing trust and everything else there is to know about sales management in our Sales Management Course. Follow this link to read more.