Regaining Trust

A couple of years ago I did an interview on what a manager can do to regain trust when he or she has screwed up royally.  I thought the points were particularly pertinent to many of my subscribers so I thought I'd print excerpts from the interview here:

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What types of events cause loss of trust?

• Any event where your actions don’t match your words. You do one thing and say another.
• Any event where self-interest takes precedence over the interest of others or of an organization
• Any event where an individual confides in you and you breach the confidentiality.

What steps can you take to regain it?

• Admit the mistake – take ownership for the breach of trust and apologize.
• Don’t make excuses – whether you were drunk, tired, or whatever else, don’t skirt responsibility by presuming you were out of control of your actions.
• Demonstrate through actions that you won't do it again.

Is what you do different with employees, peers, superiors?

• In my view the answer is no. You breached trust regardless of the person or level of the person. You need to do the same thing regardless of the level of the recipient.
  

Can you give me an example of a situation where a manager breached the trust of an employee?

• There was a manager who had an employee with a medical situation. In a meeting the manager told other meeting attendees of the medical condition in a condescending manner. The comment made it back to the employee who confronted the manager. The manager admitted the mistake to the employee, informed his HR department of the infraction, and told the employee that he was willing to accept whatever disciplinary action necessary because of the infraction. The manager and the employee eventually repaired their relationship and the employee regained trust in the manager, but only after the manager demonstrated that he had changed his ways.
  

Lonnie Pacelli
Keynote Speaker | Board Director | Autism Advocate | Author | Project Management Expert | Microsoft/Accenture Veteran 
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