Trust is Key

Bad title.  There is no one key to productivity. Yet, research shows a strong correlation between mutual trust and performance in organisations.

Mutual trust means that:

• Senior leaders trust employees
• Managers trust their team members
• Managers are trusted by their direct reports
• Employees trust their fellow team members
• The senior leadership team is trusted by employees

If you can generate and then maintain such trust, you move forward.

Establishing and Improving such trust involves the training of employees and especially managers/leaders - on effective business communication and on how and why trust bonds are formed, and how they are broken. An innate sense of empathy in senior leaders is also very helpful.

So, ‘all’ you have to do (as ever) is to hire the right people for supervisory/managerial/leadership roles, and give them appropriate training and development opportunities.   Mentoring by an.established peer with the right qualities is also helpful.