Search
Close this search box.
Search
Close this search box.

Why Business Growth Starts With Trust

In the age of transparency, where information is available in virtually a mouse-click, building trust is essential for long-term growth and success.

trustThere’s an old saying, you get more flies with honey. Yet many organizations still have a hard time with building healthy company cultures and building trust. This includes trust between the company and their customers, as well as between leaders and employees. If you’re looking to control your future by running your own successful VA business, visit thetechiementor.com to learn the strategies and skills Virtual Assistants need to create, build and grow a profitable and sustainable business.

In the age of transparency, where information is available in virtually a mouse-click, building trust is essential for long-term growth and success. It’s not simply things like getting positive customer reviews, or employee feedback, but the need to create sustainable trust.

Take for example, employees. What message are you sending to employees when your organizational structure limits their ability to make independent decisions within the scope of their job? Or when they are micromanaged? It indicates they aren’t trusted to make those decisions. In addition, without that trust and ability to practice that decision making, they are limited in their ability to problem solve, finding new ways to innovate, and to expand their value to the organization as a whole. In short, they are simply executing tasks.

Often, this leads to the “tribal knowledge” effect, where employees start to tie their perceived value to the organization to the information they have about a process, procedure, software platform, or simply historical company information. When this information isn’t shared with others, it limits the company’s ability to scale. Processes are force-funneled through specific individuals, which often slow down implementation or bring it to a halt completely. If they aren’t in the office that day, the project doesn’t move forward.

when you examine your organizational culture, start by thinking about how you build trust – with employees, partners, vendors, and customers.”

Or take customers. What happens when a customer doesn’t trust you? They seek out other options. They examine other solutions. They drop you as a provider or partner. This trust doesn’t get broken typically with a single incident, but rather the lack of information transparency, follow-through, openness, and proactive responsiveness over time. When a customer is constantly waiting on you, or don’t know the status of their project for weeks, trust begins to erode. Often times, a simple issue that arises becomes the proverbial “straw that breaks the camel’s back”, and they end the business relationship. Organizations then tend to blame that “last incident” as the cause of the break, and proceed to implement changes in that area, when the real issue were all the activities before the final incident. It built up over time.

As business leaders, it’s hard to take the long-view perspective. Each and every day, we are pulled in different directions and often feel like there’s little to no time, or wiggle room, to allow employees to make mistakes. Many leaders frequently take the path of limiting scope, and putting the burden of decision making on themselves.

It’s extremely common with small business owners – in a 2018 survey we conducted of 100 manufacturing CEOs and 98% explicitly stated that they “wanted to make the majority of decisions, as they did not want to have to blame or discipline their employees”. While this may seem admirable, it’s unsustainable. It’s akin to the “one point of failure” theory, where if that individual – or in this case, business owner – takes ill, gets hit by a bus, etc., the entire organization goes down with them. Not a real viable business strategy.

So when you examine your organizational culture, start by thinking about how you build trust – with employees, partners, vendors, and customers. This begins by laying the groundwork of educating and empowering others to make bigger business decisions. It’s the most cost-effective growth strategy you can get.

RelatedHow One CEO Built Trust And Relationships In A Diverse Business


MORE LIKE THIS

  • Get the CEO Briefing

    Sign up today to get weekly access to the latest issues affecting CEOs in every industry
  • upcoming events

    Roundtable

    Strategic Planning Workshop

    1:00 - 5:00 pm

    Over 70% of Executives Surveyed Agree: Many Strategic Planning Efforts Lack Systematic Approach Tips for Enhancing Your Strategic Planning Process

    Executives expressed frustration with their current strategic planning process. Issues include:

    1. Lack of systematic approach (70%)
    2. Laundry lists without prioritization (68%)
    3. Decisions based on personalities rather than facts and information (65%)

     

    Steve Rutan and Denise Harrison have put together an afternoon workshop that will provide the tools you need to address these concerns.  They have worked with hundreds of executives to develop a systematic approach that will enable your team to make better decisions during strategic planning.  Steve and Denise will walk you through exercises for prioritizing your lists and steps that will reset and reinvigorate your process.  This will be a hands-on workshop that will enable you to think about your business as you use the tools that are being presented.  If you are ready for a Strategic Planning tune-up, select this workshop in your registration form.  The additional fee of $695 will be added to your total.

    To sign up, select this option in your registration form. Additional fee of $695 will be added to your total.

    New York, NY: ​​​Chief Executive's Corporate Citizenship Awards 2017

    Women in Leadership Seminar and Peer Discussion

    2:00 - 5:00 pm

    Female leaders face the same issues all leaders do, but they often face additional challenges too. In this peer session, we will facilitate a discussion of best practices and how to overcome common barriers to help women leaders be more effective within and outside their organizations. 

    Limited space available.

    To sign up, select this option in your registration form. Additional fee of $495 will be added to your total.

    Golf Outing

    10:30 - 5:00 pm
    General’s Retreat at Hermitage Golf Course
    Sponsored by UBS

    General’s Retreat, built in 1986 with architect Gary Roger Baird, has been voted the “Best Golf Course in Nashville” and is a “must play” when visiting the Nashville, Tennessee area. With the beautiful setting along the Cumberland River, golfers of all capabilities will thoroughly enjoy the golf, scenery and hospitality.

    The golf outing fee includes transportation to and from the hotel, greens/cart fees, use of practice facilities, and boxed lunch. The bus will leave the hotel at 10:30 am for a noon shotgun start and return to the hotel after the cocktail reception following the completion of the round.

    To sign up, select this option in your registration form. Additional fee of $295 will be added to your total.