Building an Organizational Culture of Trust and Respect

With the pandemic, political polarization, and civil disorder that has occurred over the last year, the current business environment is Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous (VUCA). This state of VUCA has created a pivotal point that organizations must face if they want to survive and thrive in the future. Organizational leaders must create boundaries and policies to build a culture of trust and mutual respect. Failure to do so in today’s VUCA environment may result in catastrophic organizational cultural deterioration.

Download a free copy of Dale Carnegie’s The New Change Management: Leading Change in a VUCA World white paper.

Cultural deterioration within an organization can create:

• High absenteeism
• Lack of motivation and initiative
• Guarded communication
• Fear or worry among staff
• Cynical attitudes and behaviors
• Aggressive or defensive behavior

Fixing a broken culture within an organization takes time and effort. For organizations facing this challenge, fixing a deteriorating culture must be a strategic initiative. This strategic initiative should supersede departmental functional metrics to allow leadership to be focused, aligned, and vigilant in maintaining cultural boundaries and guidelines.

The starting point for building an organizational culture of trust and respect is an organizational purpose statement and then defining values, standards, and processes.

Leaders should come together to define the organizational purpose. The organizational purpose is the foundation of why people connect with an organization and provides meaning for their work at the organization. Trust and respect develop over time and this statement facilitates collaboration across silos and through conflict. The purpose statement should permeate the culture of the organization to navigate it to its ultimate objective of building a culture of trust and respect. This statement also provides guidance to employees enhancing their motivation, commitment, and satisfaction in the organization.

After the purpose statement, leaders need to define organizational values, standards, and processes within the organization. These are not arbitrary words on a page but should be seen as the framework for organizational decision-making. To build trust and respect leaders need to be committed to using these standards and personally demonstrating the defined values. When leading by example, employees can start to respect the values they see demonstrated and trust they are there to ensure their success as well as the success of the organization.

Start to build an organizational culture of trust and respect by laying a solid foundation of a purpose statement and then defining values, standards, and processes. These commonsense tools don’t seem to be common practice in many organizations today. Use these tools to intentionally start to take control of your organizational culture and thrive in the current and future business reality.

Interested in learning about employee engagement? Join us for a complimentary 1.5-hour webinar, Managers Matter: Remote Employee Engagement, on August 18, 2021, at 9:00 AM.

Download a free copy of Dale Carnegie’s Transforming Attitudes and Actions: How Senior Leaders Create Successful Workplace Cultures white paper.