• Are coworkers engaged?
• How well are people able to execute the strategy?
• Do people know what the organization’s priorities are?
• Do the decision makers get the data they need—unfiltered?
• What are meetings like?
• What about ethics . . . is it a matter of compliance or of doing the right thing?
• What is the span of control?
• What kinds of systems and processes are in place?
• What is the impact on speed?
• What is the impact on cost?
It’s interesting that the biggest “aha!” in this exercise does not come when people see the effects of low trust in their organizations. This is their world. It’s what most of them deal with every day.
The biggest “aha!” comes when they realize that it’s happening as a result of violating principles—not only individually, but also organizationally. It’s not just violating the 4 Cores and 13 Behaviors; it’s also violating the principles of organizational design that create alignment with the cores and behaviors. And it happens when people—particularly leaders—blame the behaviors of people in the organization on a low-trust environment without understanding their own responsibility to create, deploy, and maintain systems that promote an environment of high trust.
Organizational design expert Arthur W. Jones has said, “All organizations are perfectly aligned to get the results they get.” I would add: “All organizations are perfectly aligned to get the level of trust they get.” So if you don’t have the level of trust and the high-trust dividends you want in your organization, it’s time to look at the principle of alignment. It’s time to look at the structures and systems that communicate—far more eloquently than words—the underlying paradigms affecting cultural trust.
An enterprise that is at war with itself [misaligned] will not have the strength or focus to survive and thrive in today’s competitive environment.
—PROFESSOR JOHN O. WHITNEY, COLUMBIA BUSINESS SCHOOL
Earlier I said that trust is the hidden variable that affects everything. The reason it’s hidden in organizations is that leaders aren’t looking for it in the systems, structures, processes, policies, and frameworks that all the day-to-day behaviors hang on. They’re focused on the symptoms—on the glare of the sun on top of the water. They don’t put on the glasses that allow them to see the “fish” moving below. As a leader, you can be successful at the Self Trust and Relationship Trust levels so that people trust you as a person, but then fail at the Organizational Trust level by not designing and aligning systems that promote trust.
SYMBOLS: MANIFESTATIONS OF ALIGNMENT (OR LACK OF IT)
At one of our workshops, a participant said that her husband recently left the company he was working for and went into academia because he felt that was where his interest really lay. But after four days at the university, he went back to his former company. With all the university’s bureaucratic policies and procedures, he’d had to fill out a requisition with three levels of approval to even get a pen! He basically said, “I don’t want to deal with this. I don’t like what it does to me. I don’t like how it makes me feel.” Clearly the policies at this university were a symbol of distrust.
[T]rust is the most significant predictor of individuals’ satisfaction within their organizations.
—JIM KOUZES AND BARRY POSNER, BUSINESS AUTHORS
I saw similar misalignment in a large consulting company. The company had begun to struggle financially, and in an effort to manage costs, the new financial officers put a highly detailed and cumbersome expense reimbursement policy in place. It contained extremely nitpicky requirements such as, “If you arrive at the airport to turn in your rental car and you didn’t fill it with gas, you have to pay for it personally at the higher cost.” Consultants who were out rushing from client to client to client in different cities and scrambling to barely make their flights were being treated as though they were lazy and irresponsible. Another requirement was that unless people were at the partner level, the company wouldn’t reimburse them for their cell phone calls while on the road. Again, the assumption being communicated was that these consultants would use up cell time making personal calls rather than using it for work purposes.
The whole policy became a huge symbol of distrust. But fortunately, this company had some highly credible consultants who pushed back. They said, “We don’t like this. You’re treating us like children. You’re showing zero trust in us.” As a result, the policies were eventually changed and brought into alignment with the larger company values of respect and trust.
[G]ood leaders should trust those around them.
—SIR RICHARD BRANSON, FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN, THE VIRGIN GROUP
Both of these examples show the impact when structures and systems are not aligned with the principles that promote trust. They also demonstrate the power of organizational symbols—those things that represent and communicate underlying paradigms to everyone in the organization.
Truly, symbols are powerful. They carry disproportionate value. They always override rhetoric. They communicate paradigms far more clearly than words. And they do so with geometric influence. It’s been said that “a picture is worth a thousand words” and the same can be said of a symbol. It communicates so much, so fast, to so many.
Symbols can be either positive or negative, and they can take many forms, including tangible objects, systems or processes, consistently applied behaviors, or legendary stories. Symbols include everything from 500-page policy manuals to top managers who park their expensive cars in reserved executive parking spaces, to newly appointed CEOs who refuse to accept a pay raise because it might send the wrong message to workers, to legends such as Howard Shultz responding in a caring way when the Starbucks employees were murdered. They include expensive art that’s been purchased for a boardroom while people are being laid off and the CEO who reads all 10,000 customer feedback forms because he really cares what customers think. They also include organizational legend and lore that get told and retold throughout a company, such as the time JetBlue’s CEO David Neeleman drove to JFK Airport and checked passengers in on his personal computer during a blackout in New York.
During one season of my life, I worked for a large real-estate development company that had three primary company values—to work hard, work smart, and have fun. At one point, a broker approached us, representing a client who wanted to do a huge project. He had decided to get bids from the top 10 developers in town. We were excited about the opportunity, but as negotiations progressed, we discovered that this broker was so difficult to work with and so adversarial in his demands that our meetings with him became arduous, one-sided, and actually painful. As we were sitting in the tenth meeting on this project, the senior partner in charge turned to me and said, “Stephen, I have one question: Are you having any fun working on this deal?” I had to admit that I was not. “Well,” he said, “I’m not having any fun, either. Having fun is one of our values. We’re not having any, so we’re backing out of the bidding.” Our withdrawal from such a big potential opportunity was shocking to the broker and his client, but was in complete alignment with company values, and it sent a dramatic message throughout the culture that we were serious about those values. That decision became a symbol of our values, and was told and retold as a meaningful part of company lore.
Whatever form they take, symbols become disproportionately valued as representations, icons, and images of what is right or wrong in an organization.
A trusted leader can only exist over the long term in a large organization if there are good myths about him, and particularly about his consistency.
—HENK BROEDERS, HEAD OF CAP GEMINI, E&Y FOR THE NETHERLANDS
Here are a few examples of symbols that communicate and build high trust.
1. Some years after starting Hewlett-Packard, cofounder Bill Hewlett stopped off one weekend at a company storeroom to pick up a tool, only to f
ind that there was a lock on the tool bin. This was contrary to the explicit practice the company had established from the beginning to keep all parts bins and storerooms open so that HP employees would have free access to any tools they might need. The decision to keep the bins open had been made consciously to demonstrate trust in HP employees. It grew out of cofounder David Packard’s experience years earlier working for a company that had overzealously guarded its tool and parts bins “to make sure employees didn’t steal anything.”
Disgusted by the lock on the storeroom, Hewlett broke it open, threw it away, and put up a sign where the lock had been. The sign read: HP TRUSTS ITS EMPLOYEES. From that day forward, the open bins truly did become a symbol of trust—a symbol that inspired loyalty and creativity. More eloquently than anything else could have, it affirmed that the company “placed great faith and trust in HP people.” As Packard later said: “The open bins and storerooms were a symbol of trust, a trust that is central to the way HP does business.”
2. In a time when many company employee handbooks and policy manuals are hundreds of pages long, as I mentioned earlier, the Nordstrom policy manual consists of only one card. The front of the card reads:
EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK
Welcome to Nordstrom
WE’RE GLAD TO HAVE YOU WITH OUR COMPANY.
Our number one goal is to provide outstanding customer service.
Set both your personal and professional goals high.
We have great confidence in your ability to achieve them.
So our employee handbook is very simple.
We have only one rule . . .
The other side of the card reads:
ONE RULE
Use good judgment in all situations.
Please feel free to ask your Department Manager, Store Manager,
or Human Resource office any question at any time.
According to David Sirota, Louis A. Mischkind, and Michael Irwin Meltzer in their book, The Enthusiastic Employee:
This one page handbook speaks volumes about the company, yet highlights Nordstrom’s focus on customer satisfaction, its deliberately non-bureaucratic culture and the trust it places in the capabilities and character of its employees. The statement is the epitome in words of a welcoming and respectful organization.
Nordstrom’s “employee handbook” is a symbol of trust, and it is completely aligned with their stated value of providing outstanding customer service through people exercising good judgment.
3. The high-performing French manufacturing company FAVI makes precision components for automotive and other applications. Under the leadership of former managing director Jean-François Zobrist, the company shifted the responsibility for quality and performance to the very machinists who manufactured the components. This instilled in the machinists a deep sense of pride in their work. Zobrist recounted, “One day some machinists found a certain part that was faulty. They checked the stock and didn’t find any faulty parts there. So they took a company car and drove to Volkswagen headquarters, without asking anyone for permission. So these good machinists show up in their coveralls with this component and explain they need to see if they delivered any faulty parts. The people at Volkswagen had never seen anything like this!” When positive stories such as this come from your people and are shared with other stakeholders, they often become part of the company lore and translate into powerful symbols of trust.
At the core of our whole system is the belief that mankind is good—that by and large, people can be trusted and given responsibility.
—JEAN-FRANCOIS ZOBRIST, FORMER MANAGING DIRECTOR, FAVI
What symbols exist in your own organization? What do they communicate to your internal stakeholders? Are the symbols aligned with the principles that create high trust? What are the results?
HOW TO EFFECT ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE
If the symbols in your organization communicate and cultivate distrust—or less trust than you would like to have—go back to the 4 Cores with your organizational hat on. Ask yourself:
• Does my organization have Integrity? Do we know what we stand for? Do our structures and systems reflect a basic paradigm of respect and trust? Do we have a culture of honesty? Of humility? Do we listen to one another’s ideas? Can we make and admit mistakes? Do we have the courage to engage the tough issues? Do our systems and structure encourage ethical behavior?
• Does my organization have good Intent? Do we have a culture of caring—for one another? For our work? For our customers? Do we genuinely want everyone to win? Are the systems set up to reward competition or cooperation? Does the system encourage people to share ideas and information freely—or does it encourage people to withhold?
• What are the Capabilities of my organization? Do we have the means to deliver value? Do we attract and retain the Talents, Attitudes, Skills, Knowledge, and Style (TASKS) we need to compete in today’s market? Do we have the right people in the right seats on the bus? Are we continuously improving and innovating? Do we reinvent ourselves, if needed?
• Does my organization get Results? Do we deliver what we promise? Can people rely on us to create value and fulfill commitments? Do we have a track record that promotes confidence? Do clients recommend us to others? Do we deliver results in a way that inspires trust?
If you find your organization lacking in any of these areas, this is the place to begin to create alignment and build Organizational Trust.I Even if you are not the formal leader of the organization, there are things you can do to influence. And if you can’t influence, your first step is to return to the 4 Cores as an individual and increase your own credibility so that you can.
Some of the same 4 Cores application ideas that work on the individual level will help create alignment on the organizational level, as well. For example:
To increase organizational Integrity, you can create or improve your organizational mission or values statement, engaging everyone in the process to ensure that it’s more than just some platitude hanging on the wall. You can also work on creating a culture of making and keeping commitments within the organization. This is particularly important for leaders, and it’s especially important in the small things. I’ve known of situations where leaders did not take seemingly small commitments seriously, and it spread to the extent that before long, everyone was treating internal commitments lightly.
To improve organizational Intent, you can ensure that your mission and values reflect motives and principles that build trust. You can also set an example of caring. Remember the impact in an organization when even one person—particularly a leader—demonstrates respect or shows concern. In addition, you can work to create systems that carry out a mutual benefit agenda—systems that use stewardship accountability agreements, reward cooperation instead of competition, and demonstrate trust.
To increase organizational Capabilities, you can take steps to ensure that the structures and systems in your organization (including recruiting/ hiring and compensation systems) are designed to attract and retain the talent you need to be competitive in today’s market. You can provide ongoing training and mentoring (development systems) to ensure relevancy and the satisfaction that comes from growth. You can make sure that information and decision-making systems are aligned with efforts to meet organizational and customer needs.
To improve organizational Results, you can help people create shared vision concerning desired results through a system that includes cascading goals and getting everyone on the same page. You can also create a “balanced scorecard,” in which results reflect meeting the needs of all stakeholders, not just owners. In addition, you can create a culture in which people have the opportunity to account for results—not activities—on a regular basis.
I guarantee that if you will put on your trust glasses and see the impact of strengthening these 4 Cores in your organization at whatever level you define it, you will be amazed. And if you actually do the things necessary to strengthen the cores, the positive results in terms of
alignment—and the dividends of trust that flow from it—will be remarkable.
After you address the 4 Cores organizationally, consider the degree to which your organizational culture manifests and encourages the 13 Behaviors. Look at the following chart again, this time wearing your organizational hat. Which side of the chart more accurately describes the culture in your “organization,” however you’re defining it?
BEHAVIOR
CURRENT PERFORMANCE
OPPOSITE/COUNTERFEIT
Talk Straight
C
| | | | | |
Lie, spin, tell half-truths, double-talk, flatter.
Demonstrate Respect
H
A
R
| | | | | |
Don’t care or don’t show you care; show disrespect or show respect only to those who can do something for you.
Create Transparency
A
C
| | | | | |
Withhold information; keep secrets; create illusions; pretend.
Right Wrongs
T
E
| | | | | |
Don’t admit or repair mistakes; cover up mistakes.
Show Loyalty
R
| | | | | |
Sell others out; take the credit yourself; sweet-talk people to their faces and bad-mouth them behind their backs.
Deliver Results
C
| | | | | |
Fail to deliver; deliver on activities, not results.
Get Better
O
M
| | | | | |
Deteriorate; don’t invest in improvement; force every problem into your one solution.
Confront Reality
P
E
T
| | | | | |
Bury your head in the sand; focus on busywork while skirting the real issues.
The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing that Changes Everything Page 30
