Checking Organization Trust/Distrust

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.

1. How would you describe a low-trust organization?
2. How would you describe a high-trust organization?
3. Which description best represents your organization?
4. 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