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Trust & Betrayal in the Workplace

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Trust & Betrayal in the Workplace

Building Effective Relationships in Your Organizations

Berrett-Koehler,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

If you have to ask your employees to trust you during a time of change, it's already too late.

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Editorial Rating

5

Qualities

  • Concrete Examples
  • For Beginners

Recommendation

Dennis S. Reina and Michelle L. Reina discuss the importance of having a strong sense of trust in the workplace. They advocate avoiding both the major and minor betrayals that undermine trust. Creating an environment that promotes trust contributes to effectiveness in the workplace, especially during times of rapid change. The book discusses the nature and effect of trust. It is enhanced with a variety of exercises that promote workplace dialogues and help people think through the issue of trust. Many of these exercises are especially suited for teams, work groups and divisions. The exercises facilitate discussing and resolving problems in a more trusting atmosphere. This well-written, easy-to-read book is directed to front-line supervisors and unit mangers, although it will also interest top management and company owners. getAbstract recommends this book to team builders in organizations of all sizes.

Summary

Why We Need Trust

When we trust someone and they betray us, we feel a great sense of pain. Today this sense of betrayal is growing because of all the workplace upheaval caused by change, such as downsizing, mergers, and other transformations. Employees feel betrayed by their leaders and leaders feel betrayed by their employees.

People feel their trust is betrayed when they think someone has taken advantage of them, when they have expectations that are not met, or when they are not kept informed about decisions that affect them. These betrayals can come from failures to keep promises or from a person who uses lies to get ahead of others. Whether these are serious, intentional betrayals or minor, inadvertent ones, they cause breeches in relationships that damage the working atmosphere. Business is based on relationships, and trust is a kind of glue that holds these relationships together.

Ironically, changes in the organizational environment create conditions that undermine trust at a time when trust is most necessary. When uncertainty and anxiety increase, organizations need to be more open and flexible in response. You need to promote trust during times of change...

About the Authors

Dennis S. Reina and Michelle L. Reina are principals in Chagnon & Reina Associates, a organizational development, research and consulting firm. They are change management consultants, executive coaches and speakers. They each have a Ph.D. in Human and Organizational Systems. The Reinas have worked with and conducted research in more than 65 organizations in private industry, state government, higher education and the non-profit sector.

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