Trust & Betrayal in the Workplace

This is a great book! As an HR professional and coach, it really made me think about the two words, TRUST and BETRAYAL and all the correlations of how one word, “trust” is the underlying ingredient in effective relationships within organizations.

When you think of the word “trust,” what comes to your mind? What are some of the personal feelings that you associate when you experience trust? How would you describe the culture where you work, would it fall into the category of a “high trust culture?”

What about the word “betrayal.” Any specific emotions and feelings come to mind? Think about betrayal in the workplace. Have you encountered betrayal at work? Is there a lot of office gossip, what about individuals not being straightforward with others? How about when one breaks commitments, etc.?

The authors explained that there were two types of betrayal, intentional and unintentional.  They also shared that betrayal is a natural part of relations.  When I thought deeper about my experiences, I realized “betrayal” has such a nasty connotation to it, in fact, I don’t know about you, but I rarely hear it used.

The authors shared there are three types of transactional trust; contractual, communication and competence trust. Furthermore, they shared the various behaviors which are crucial for each of the trust elements.

As I read about contractual trust, some of the HR disciplines which came to my mind were: leadership, employee relations, and compensation and the programs necessary to build and sustain contractual trust.  Regarding communications trust, performance management and leadership were the two HR disciplines which surfaced. For competence trust, organizational and employee development came to the forefront of my mind.

As a practitioner and believer in psychometric tools for self-exploration and discovery, I was pleased to see self-discovery as a key necessary step with trust and the re-building of trust.

The book also introduced the seven steps for healing. This is really instrumental as they share forgiveness is the key element in learning and forward movement.

Trust is as critical as ever, especially in today’s fierce competition. As a professional, when you read the statement below from the book, what programs have you experienced in your organization which create awareness, team-building and enhance your performance? “Trust is the glue that binds team members together. It helps foster a sense of belonging and influences members’ willingness to communicate openly, commit to the team’s goals, take risks, and support one another.”

I recommend this book to all HR professionals, coaches and business leaders.