Pick any trade publication today and you are likely to see at least one article on the topic of employee engagement. Employee engagement is the degree to which employees work with passion and feel a deep connection to your company. Gallup International recently reported that companies in the top 24% of employee engagement had less turnover and a higher percentage of customer loyalty, profitability and revenue.

Research on employee engagement goes on to say that trust in the workplace is the foundation of employee engagement. If that’s true, it would be helpful if we could get a better idea of ​​what actually constitutes trust between employees and managers or organizations.

In today’s organization, trust is a two-way street. Employees want to work for a manager and for an organization they can trust, and managers want to be able to trust their employees. The problem is, trust is a nebulous concept, not unlike honesty, energy, and commitment. We value these attributes in our employees and colleagues, but not all of us agree on what constitutes them. Many of us say, “We will know when we see it” or “I trust everyone until they prove me wrong.”

A useful way to define “trust” is to segment it into two types of trust: trust, trust, and competence, trust. “Trust, trust,” it is said, is the belief that the other person can be counted on to do the right thing or act positively and ethically. “Confidence in competence,” on the other hand, is the belief in the person’s ability to do the job or complete the task. Confidence in your competence can be synonymous with your own “capabilities.” Confidence Confidence is synonymous with the “willingness to do the right thing.”

Let’s take a look at some examples.

Phil has been a project manager at a financial institution for 10 years. He has been a great performer and has a reputation for hard work, excellent communication skills, and a highly professional manner. When a recently hired VP was looking to add project managers to her team, she interviewed several candidates and selected Phil. Phil’s reputation preceded him, and the vice president believed that Phil would continue to be a world-class actor. Phil did not disappoint, and in his annual performance review, the vice president indicated that Phil exceeded the standards for this position. She rewarded Phil both financially and with a nomination for a Leadership Team award, a prestigious honor awarded annually to employees who exemplify the company’s core values. Phil enjoyed confidence, confidence that the new vice president was willing to believe in him, “without being seen,” and competence, confidence that he continued to demonstrate his capabilities throughout the year.

Similarly, the vice president enjoyed Phil’s trust in both his competence as a manager to set expectations, hold employees accountable for results, measure those results, and reward performance both financially and with meaningful recognition, and in their confidence. that he could and would perform “as advertised”.

In this example, the trust each person placed in the other was appropriate and the end result was beneficial to both the employee and the manager.

However, this is often not the case. Consider what happened when Emily, a highly experienced researcher in the pharmaceutical industry, took on a new role at a company in her field. As Emily continued to perform to her own high standards, her manager spent much more time with her underperforming teammates. He reasoned that he needed to help these employees improve their performance and tried to provide in-depth training for each of them. When Emily asked her manager to provide peer review comments on various articles she was writing, he agreed, but was always busy or involved with his teammates when Emily asked him to review her work. Additionally, her manager was chronically late for team meetings she called or missed altogether when something else came up. Although Emily had accepted her position, in part, due to her manager’s professional reputation, she was beginning to question whether he was really up to date on the latest scientific research studies. When it came time for Emily’s annual performance review, Emily received very positive feedback about her work and a very nice raise in salary. Her manager was definitely competent, confident that Emily was demonstrating strong capabilities, and behaved as if she was confident that she would continue to do so, with little to no supervision. What he didn’t realize, however, was that Emily’s trust in him, both to fulfill his managerial role and to care about Emily and her job, had eroded.

The employer-employee compact that relies so heavily on trust will likely remain strong in Phil’s case. In Emily’s case, however, you may begin to wonder why she joined this company if she has little or no confidence in her manager to provide what she needs to continue to be successful in her job.

What can we learn from the situations involving Phil and Emily, and how can managers ensure that they and their employees display both types of trust?

Communication is truly the key to building trust. As a manager, if you set specific and measurable expectations, provide positive and corrective feedback, understand your employees’ goals and motivations, and recognize and reward the best, you are on your way to earning or maintaining the employee’s trust in you as a competent manager. It’s especially important to remember to provide feedback to great artists, as well as those facing challenges. And, if you promise an employee something, “do what you say you will do.” That will generate more respect than almost anything else you can do.

Employees will be much more inclined to be positive and energetic about their jobs if they trust their managers. However, on that two-way street, employees also need to make sure they are demonstrating their capabilities, seeking feedback, asking how they can help the company be even more successful, and helping their managers understand what they need to be successful. .

So as you think more about that elusive concept of “trust,” ask yourself, “How are you demonstrating trust, confidence and competence, trust with your employees?” Now think about how your employees would answer these questions about themselves and about you. Better yet, ask them!