The Essentials: Building and Repairing Trust

03/11/24 • 46 min

Trust smooths the way for collaboration, conflict resolution, and influence. But how do you build this asset? And how do you repair it when you’ve missed a series of important deadlines or otherwise messed up?

Organizational psychologist Ruchi Sinha talks with a listener who’s struggling to restore skeptics’ confidence in her and her team. Ruchi shares the three elements of trust and how to convey each one. She also offers advice on what to do if you’ve failed to acknowledge a broken promise and how to communicate practically when confidentiality prevents you from being totally transparent.

Guest expert:

Ruchi Sinha is an associate professor of organizational behavior at the University of South Australia Business School. Her research explores how voice, conflict, and power dynamics influence work relationships and performance outcomes.

Resources:

“New to the Team? Here’s How to Build Trust (Remotely),” by Ruchi Sinha
“How High-Performing Teams Build Trust,” by Ron Friedman
“10 Pitfalls That Destroy Organizational Trust,” by Frances X. Frei and Anne Morriss
“What to Do When You Don’t Trust Your Employee,” by Dina Denham Smith
“How to Build Trust at Work,” from the HBR on Leadership podcast

Email us: [email protected]

Guest expert:

Resources:

“New to the Team? Here’s How to Build Trust (Remotely),” by Ruchi Sinha
“How High-Performing Teams Build Trust,” by Ron Friedman
“10 Pitfalls That Destroy Organizational Trust,” by Frances X. Frei and Anne Morriss
“What to Do When You Don’t Trust Your Employee,” by Dina Denham Smith
“How to Build Trust at Work,” from the HBR on Leadership podcast

Email us: [email protected]

Previous Episode

The Essentials: Executive Presence

Executive presence is a mix of gravitas, communication skills, and appearance. But how do you learn to command a room if you only have a few opportunities to be in front of your colleagues, except for the occasional video call? This is the situation that one of our listeners is in. She joins Amy B and two other women who’ve each cultivated a strong executive presence, Megan Bock and Laura Sicola, to get advice on what hers can look and sound like.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to improve your own influence and impact, keep a virtual audience engaged, and grow while staying true to yourself.

Guest experts:

Megan Bock is the chief operating officer at Federato, a company that uses machine learning to assess risk. Cultivating an executive presence helped her rise up through the insurance industry and into tech.

Laura Sicola is a cognitive linguist who coaches leaders on communicating strategically. She hosts the podcast Speaking to Influence, and she wrote the book Speaking to Influence: Master Your Leadership Voice.

Resources:

“The New Rules of Executive Presence,” by Sylvia Ann Hewlett
“If You Want To Lead, Master This Skill,” by Dina Denham Smith
“Gravitas Is a Quality You Can Develop,” by Rebecca Newton
“To Sound Like a Leader, Think About What You Say, and How and When You Say It,” by Rebecca Shambaugh

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Next Episode

The Essentials: Setting and Maintaining Boundaries

We all need to set boundaries, even in the most structured jobs, because work has its way of encroaching on the rest of our life. Ashley, a senior analyst for the federal government, recently shifted to a schedule that helps her do her most important work and have some alone time before her family gets home. Now she’s trying to figure out how to further minimize interruptions, deal with slow and busy stretches, and get out of unproductive meetings.

Amy G and executive coach Melody Wilding talk through adjustments Ashley can make and things she can say to achieve those goals. They also offer strategies for how to communicate your new limits with colleagues and how to hold the line when your boundaries inevitably get tested.

Guest expert:

Melody Wilding is an executive coach and the author of Trust Yourself: Stop Overthinking and Channel Your Emotions for Success at Work.

Resources: