“Trust in Trust!”
An appeal for more trust in the workplace – by Alfons Fanta
The last few months have shown how important a strong, resilient corporate culture is. Since trust is, in my opinion, one of the central values for this, I would like to share a few aspects of it, especially in the business context.
Trust fuels creativity
The less employees are needlessly controlled, the less their room for action is limited, and the fewer individual work steps are prescribed, the more engagement is given back. The best ideas arise when everything can be said, when experimenting is allowed, when work is done in a self-determined way, and independent decisions can be made. This offers better development opportunities for everyone in the team, leads to greater satisfaction, and prevents stagnation in the company.
Trust saves time
If we trust that everyone is using their work time effectively, then the time-consuming and annoying filling out of reports that no one reads is eliminated, unproductive time sheet checks are eliminated, and so on. Trusting allows unnecessary control mechanisms to be avoided and allows everyone to focus on relevant work. And suddenly there is time for things that might not have been possible otherwise: personal development, regular screen breaks, trying out new ideas, or getting some sunshine on the rooftop terrace.
Trust makes people happy, happy employees create satisfied candidates and customers – and when everyone is happy, the business also does well!
Trust costs nothing
It is clear that trust can also be abused – but especially then, it is important not to lose “trust in trust” but to learn from the “abuse”. Therefore, we can say that our gut feeling (=sum of our own experiences) strongly influences our own trust. It is therefore important to, for example, pay attention to hiring the right people, people who can handle this trust, already in the application process.
Trust begins with oneself
In order to trust others, one must first trust oneself. “Our trust in others ultimately stems from two components – self-confidence, that is, confidence in our own abilities, and trust in others.” [karrierebibel.de] And like many things in life, it is a give and take – meaning we should take the lead and give this trust first.
In conclusion, I can only say from personal experience: trust pays off! Because there is nothing better than working with people you can trust.