As promised in the podcast, here are the questions and bullet points for checking organizational trust.
Take a few minutes to ask these questions before reading further.
- How would you describe a low-trust organization?
- How would you describe a high-trust organization?
- Which description best represents your organization?
- What are the results?
Low-Trust Organization
- People maniupulate or distort facts
- people withhold and hoard information
- Getting the credit is very important
- People spin the truth to their advantage
- New ideas are openly resisted and stifled
- Mistakes are covered up or covered over
- Most people are involved in a blame game, bad-mouthing others
- There is an abundance of watercooler talk
- There are numerous “meetings after the meetings”
- There are many “undiscussables”
- People tend to overpromise and under deliver
- There are a lot of violated expectations, for which people try to make excuses
- People pretend bad things aren’t happening or are in denial
- The energy is very low
- People often feel unproductive tension — sometimes even fear
High-Trust Organization
- Information is shared openly
- Mistakes are tolerated and encouraged as a way of learning
- The culture is innovative and creative
- People are loyal to those who are absent
- People talk straight and confront real issues
- There is real communication and real collaboration
- People share credit abundantly
- There are few “meetings after the meetings”
- Transparency is a practiced value
- People are candid and authentic
- There is a high degree of accountability
- There is palpable vitality and energy — people can feel the positive momentum
Over to you
- What is it like to work in your company?
- What percentage of your time is focused on the real work?
- What is your ability to partner — internally? Externally?
- How are “sacred cows” dealt with?
- How collaborative is your culture?
- What is innovation like?
- Are coworkers engaged?
- How well are people able to execute the strategy?
- Do people know what the organization’s priorities are?
- Do the decision makers get the data they need — unfiltered?
- What are meetings like?
- What about ethics….is it a matter of compliance or of doing the right thing?
- What is the span of control?
- What kinds of systems and processes are in place?
- What is the impact on speed?
- What is the impact on cost?
Podcast
