Many years ago, I worked with a power hungry person who loved wielding authority, putting people under their thumb, scheming to undermine talented coworkers, and relishing the havoc they wrought. 20+ people (we stopped counting) left the organization and cited this person as the reason. We all deserve to be happy somewhere. At best, I would describe this person as unhappy there (or in life in general) – at worst perhaps there was a touch of evil or illness. Regardless of the root cause, I was concerned by the behavior and puzzled and frustrated by leadership’s inaction. Another colleague asked why I cared so much that we all got along. I didn’t have research at the time to back it up, but my gut told me that not only was this person’s behavior having a negative impact on morale and culture, it was also having a negative impact on performance and ultimately revenue. (After all, which of us performs at our best when under unhealthy stress and living in fear?) Thanks to Paul Zak, (read his book, “The Trust Factor”), we now have data to support the impact of trust-based cultures on performance. Zak has studied levels of oxytocin (our social bonding and trust chemical) in thousands of employees around the world and found that in high oxytocin, trust-based cultures, there is:
• 106% more energy
• 76% more engagement
• 50% more productivity
• 40% fewer cases of burnout
• 29% more satisfaction with their lives
• 13% fewer sick days
If those statistics don’t motivate you to take serious action to ensure that you create and maintain trust – top to bottom – I don’t know what will. I’d love to see us all on a personal mission to drive out fear and build more trust. We deserve it, our people deserve it, and our businesses will benefit – especially important to consider in the midst of the great resignation. What will you do to build trust across your team or organization?
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