Trust is feeling in short supply nowadays.
With “work” no longer being confined to a time or place, it’s getting harder to “track” who is working where, when and how hard. We need to find new ways to establish and maintain trust in whatever our work environment.
Modern Mentor is hosted by Rachel Cooke. A transcript is available at Simplecast.
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Hey, it’s Rachel Cooke, your Modern Mentor. I’m the founder of Lead Above Noise—a firm specializing in retaining, engaging, and developing talent. And one of the greatest drivers of talent engagement is trust. But in this new world of work—the world where work is no longer confined to a time or place—trust is feeling in short supply. And some bad behaviors are starting to crop up. Today I’d love to talk about how we might get back to basics—how to build trust in the new world of work.
But first—if you’re a regular Modern Mentor listener and feel like this podcast adds value to your life, please take a minute to review us on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge difference in helping other people find the show. And if you don’t have Apple Podcasts—share a favorite episode on LinkedIn or Twitter! I’d really appreciate it.
Ok. Pop quiz. Hope you’re ready. It’s only one question and it’s totally fine if you haven’t studied for it. Here goes: How much of your day have you spent working?
If you rolled your eyes, I forgive you. It sounds like a ridiculous question. But it’s actually gotten really dicey. Work used to be a thing that happened during fixed hours in a fixed place. But for many of us, all boundaries are off. We’re working remotely, we’re engaging with team members and clients across the globe—which means we’re kind of always both working and not working. Bet that pop quiz doesn’t seem ridiculous now.
Elon Musk famously (or infamously?) tweeted not long ago that Tesla employees not comfortable returning to an office should go pretend to work somewhere else. The implication being, of course, that remote work is pretend work.
Musk doesn’t beat around the bush. But he doesn’t seem to be the only one struggling to trust the productivity of remote workers.
I’m hearing all sorts of things—from people feeling compelled to send 11 pm emails just to signal how hard they’re working, to workplaces actually implementing surveillance systems that track and photograph remote workers to verify their being online.
And all of this has me alarmed. When did we all decide that adults need to be monitored and tracked, or need to show proof of working life at all hours to validate their employment?
This is bad. Bad for everyone—for companies, for leaders, and for, like, humans at large. Feeling like you can’t trust or be trusted creates an environment of toxicity.
So what are some basic things we can do—leaders, employees, companies—to start to bring trust back to the workplace in whatever form it’s taking?
Companies are instituting surveillance, leaders are doing surprise phone calls or IMs all to check in—to make sure people are where they’re supposed to be during working hours. But really, where are you supposed to be and what hours are technically working hours?
How well is this working out? Well… Not so well.
What’s happening is people are living in fear of running to the bathroom for fear of missing that call. They’re afraid to log off the laptop for fear of seeming not committed or engaged.
These surveillance measures—official and unofficial—are answering the wrong questions, creating rather than solving problems.
Companies shouldn’t be asking where, when, and how long people are working, but rather are they or aren’t they delivering results, achieving their goals?
We all need to redirect our focus and attention here—we need to pause and say “hey—what if we get really clear on what needs to be accomplished in a day or a week, and as long as that’s happening, we all get the privilege of using the bathroom without fear?”
If you’re a leader, please immediately ask yourself how well you’ve established clear expectations with your team. Are they striving for a clear outcome? Or are they sending you 11 pm emails “just to check in”?
And if you’re an individual contributor, sit down with your leader and push for real clarity on what’s expected of you. Assure them you’ll be delivering those outcomes, and then try logging off at 6 pm. Just to see what happens.
Wanting to know how things are progressing is healthy. Using surveillance as a means of doing so is not.
With clarity of expectations, we can begin to shift the collective “monitoring” from “are you there?” to “have you achieved what was promised?”
And we all have a responsibility here.
If you’re a leader, take a step back and ask yourself what you really need to know. Do you need to know when each team member is at a desk and working? Or do you really need to know whether that client pitch deck is being built and revised on schedule? If it’s the latter (and I hope it’s the latter) then request a daily or weekly status update. And let that replace spot-checking.
Likewise, if you’re the employee and you’re sending the 10 pm emails to demonstrate your undying commitment, then talk to your boss about what would give them the confidence you’re on track. Whether it’s sending weekly status updates or copying them on certain client emails, find ways to keep your boss feeling in the loop, reducing their need to just check in.
One final note here—if your job actually does rely on your being online and available during certain hours (like you’re a receptionist or a call center operator)—then your priority should be aligning with your boss on how best to cover the moments when you need to step away and do human things in kitchens or bathrooms.
When my little one was two, a bigger kid on the playground knocked her off the climber. Later that day, as I watched the ER doctor cast her tiny broken arm, I just kept saying (OK—sobbing!!) “I should’ve been watching more closely.”
Lucky for me this was not our doctor’s first rodeo. He finally said “Mom, scrapes, breaks, and bruises are part of growing up. Even when we’re watching. She’ll learn from this and so will you. You can’t put your baby in a bubble.”
In other words, watching more closely isn’t the answer when something’s gone wrong. Learning constructively from it is the way to go.
Professionally, you too need to be ready for scrapes, breaks, and bruises. Know things will go wrong—a missed deadline, an underwhelmed client, patient, or customer—and be ready to learn from it.
Be proactive. Let your boss know you take this seriously and you’re committed to finding the insight. Do a review of the interaction or transaction and be reflective about what you might try differently next time.
By letting your boss see you’re taking accountability and learning from failure, you’ll assure them that you don’t need closer watching, but the freedom to try again next time.
Trust builds over years but breaks in a moment. The math of it is unfair. But it’s not up for debate.
All of us—people, leaders, organizations—need to be building and earning trust over time. We can never take it for granted.
As employees, we should be demonstrating our commitment to achieving outcomes, our willingness to receive feedback, to take accountability when things go wrong, and we should be unfailingly reliable in delivering on the things we’ve promised.
As leaders, we should be setting clear expectations and holding people accountable to meeting those. We should be tracking outcomes—not hours, unless hours ARE the outcomes.
And as organizations, we need to recognize the humanity of our people. Spot checks and surveillance systems are creepy. They send a message that we can’t be trusted unless we’re being checked on. And it makes people want to rebel, doing the very thing you're watching for.
If we all start doing our part, I think trust will be the fashion accessory of 2023.
Hope you’ll join me next week for another great episode. Until then, visit my website at leadabovenoise.com if your organization is looking for partnership in retaining, engaging or developing talent. Thanks so much for listening and have a successful week.