In a 2017 Harvard Business Review article, neuroeconomist Paul J. Zak discusses the importance of creating an “employee-centric culture,” and how doing so can have a significant positive impact on business. But how do you achieve this?
Zak writes, “In my research I’ve found that building a culture of trust is what makes a meaningful difference.” He goes on to explain:
“Employees in high-trust organizations are more productive, have more energy at work, collaborate better with their colleagues, and stay with their employers longer than people working at low-trust companies. They also suffer less chronic stress and are happier with their lives, and these factors fuel stronger performance.”
Even without the scientific studies that back it up, we intuitively know that cultivating trust in any relationship is a good thing. The relationship between employee and employer is no exception.
So how does a leader cultivate a culture of trust within his or her organization? Zak offers 8 strategies to do this, all based on his neuroscience research and experiments:
- “Recognize excellence. The neuroscience shows that recognition has the largest effect on trust when it occurs immediately after a goal has been met, when it comes from peers, and when it’s tangible, unexpected, personal, and public.”
- “Induce ‘challenge stress.’ When a manager assigns a team a difficult but achievable job, the moderate stress of the task releases neurochemicals, including oxytocin and adrenocorticotropin, that intensify people’s focus and strengthen social connections.”
- “Give people discretion in how they do their work. Once employees have been trained, allow them, whenever possible, to manage people and execute projects in their own way. Being trusted to figure things out is a big motivator.”
- “Enable job crafting. When companies trust employees to choose which projects they’ll work on, people focus their energies on what they care about most.”
- “Share information broadly. Only 40% of employees report that they are well informed about their company’s goals, strategies, and tactics. This uncertainty about the company’s direction leads to chronic stress, which inhibits the release of oxytocin and undermines teamwork. Openness is the antidote.”
- “Intentionally build relationships… Neuroscience experiments by my lab show that when people intentionally build social ties at work, their performance improves.”
- “Facilitate whole-person growth. High-trust workplaces help people develop personally as well as professionally. Numerous studies show that acquiring new work skills isn’t enough; if you’re not growing as a human being, your performance will suffer. High-trust companies adopt a growth mindset when developing talent.”
- “Show vulnerability. Leaders in high-trust workplaces ask for help from colleagues instead of just telling them to do things. My research team has found that this stimulates oxytocin production in others, increasing their trust and cooperation.”
Eight excellent, science-based, practical strategies every leader should leverage for greater success within his or her organization!
For deeper insights, I encourage you to read the whole fascinating and in-depth article, which ends with this statement:
“It’s not about being easy on your employees or expecting less from them. High-trust companies hold people accountable but without micromanaging them. They treat people like responsible adults.”
