Post by Allison O’Neill, contributing Women On Business writer
Here is an article with statistics that prove (again!) that bosses are long overdue an overhaul! They really need to try something new – as their current approach is definitely not working. This article states that employees don’t trust CEO’s and senior managers. It’s rather blatant statistics say that:
- CEOs and senior managers don’t care about employees (chosen by almost 50%).
- CEOs and senior managers don’t mean what they say (chosen by around 40%).
- CEOs and senior managers don’t value the contribution employees make (chosen by around 40%).
YIKES!! That’s a bad report card. It continues…
"More than a quarter don’t think their CEO is honest and truthful or that they deliver on promises. But a third of respondents say the above is also true for senior managers – actually placing them below CEOs when it comes to trust from employees." This is not good news (and is probably a bit of a shock) for senior managers! I think some factors to consider when it comes to trust are:
Hierarchy – when the boss still believes he is "a cut above" trust is harder to earn
Being free of BS – total honesty required, if you say you are gonna do something – DO IT
Telling all – total transparency, no secrets or things "staff aren’t important enough to know"
Loving the yuck – don’t avoid scary problems, staff know you are worth your weight in gold if you aren’t afraid to tackle them
Chucking "do your employees trust you" into Google yields some good advice. One article suggests MBWO, translation = Management by Walking Around to build trust. "Not only are people more apt to approach you in "their territory," but you will hear and see things that never make it into the reports that come into your office. Besides, when your employees see you walking around, they begin to see you as a person, not just as "the boss." It’s a lot easier to mistrust "the boss" than to mistrust an individual."
How do you know your staff trust you?
What in the past may have caused staff to lose trust in you?
What do you need to do to gain deeper trust?
Susan Gunelius
Susan Gunelius is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Women on Business. She is a 30-year veteran of the marketing field and has authored a dozen books about marketing, branding, and social media, including the highly popular Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing, 30-Minute Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing for Dummies, Blogging All-in-One for Dummies and Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps. Susan’s marketing-related content can be found on Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com, MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, and more. Susan is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She has worked in corporate marketing roles and through client relationships with AT&T, HSBC, Citibank, Intuit, The New York Times, Cox Communications, and many more large and small companies around the world. Susan also speaks about marketing, branding and social media at events around the world and is frequently interviewed by television, online, radio, and print media organizations about these topics. She holds an MBA in Management and Strategy and a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and is a Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC).
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Very true; and yet being a good CEO really isn’t difficult. I was commenting to my husband the other day about the CEO at the company I work at, who personally sent me an email on a Saturday to thank me for working overtime and tell me what he’d liked about the things I’d done that week. It made me feel valued as an employee, it made me have a good weekend, and it motivated me to carry on working.
It was interesting to read the Leverage article and then this! A good CEO knows the value of time leverage. All too often I come across a CEO that is so bogged down in trading his/her own time for money–or any other personal, egocentric payoff– that they are ineffective leaders. They do not have the resources necessary to utilize the long view over their organization.
WOW scar! Your boss has it sorted – must be one in a million!