5 communication tips to build trust with workers

Be honest—especially when the news is bad. Encourage employees to ask tough questions, and clearly convey top leaders’ vision for the future.

Ragan Insider Premium Content
building_trust_through_communication

Trust is not about guaranteeing employees that nothing bad will ever happen.

If building trust requires a guarantee of anything, it’s that the company will tell employees what’s really going on—even if it’s bad news.

Employees are smart enough to realize that no company can promise lifetime employment anymore. Most employees don’t even want lifetime employment. They want interesting, challenging, meaningful work.

Workers today start a job with the expectation that eventually they’ll move on to another company. Your staffers are not naïve. Honesty, then, becomes the primary pillar of trust.

Employees feel trust in their company—and thus do their best work and are most engaged—when they believe managers are being honest with them. So how does a company do that?

[RELATED: Join us for our Immersive Writing Course for Strategic Communicators]

 

To read the full story, log in.
Become a Ragan Insider member to read this article and all other archived content.
Sign up today

Already a member? Log in here.
Learn more about Ragan Insider.