Readers Respond: How Does Your Organization Destroy Trust?

Organizations often destroy employee trust. Organization leaders fail to share information with employees, so employees are not sure that they understand their work goals and company prospects. Leaders withhold the truth or mislead employees about tough situations and change. Coworkers and bosses destroy employee trust when they fail to deliver or discuss the whole picture as it affects the employee’s job. Is it any wonder that organizations often fail to build employee trust when employee trust is fragile and daily, organizations violate trust building principles? How does your organization destroy your trust?

See More Reader Responses.

Destroying Trust

It is not just employees who destroy trust, when the organization is less than open and honest in its dealings, that too creates mistrust

—Guest chrissy

Trust destroyers

I think what you have shared is true and I can bear witness to it. Think of this, the boss asks you in a meeting to give your input and yet has already made up his/her mind. You sit in a meeting for three hours only to later learn that it was a waste of time. Also, bosses destroy trust if they put more trust in their confidants who propagate lies and rumors making them make hasty decisions that make employees fearful and can't trust words and actions. in case your words will be linked to your buddy /s.

—Guest Peter

Being nosy boss, master in all

Being a nosy boss takes away trust. Meanwhile, there are more important issues to address, yet time is wasted talking about what will never take the company higher. Trust can also be destroyed when your boss does not compliment your effort. A solution to a problem is found, but because it was not the boss who found the solution, the idea is ignored and brought back in a different form by the boss as if coming from him. It's just a pity!

—Guest Kesley Mika

Me, Me, Me

As VP of Ops I've worked hard to make the staff feel as though the company will take care of any of their needs, we can work together on any challenge, and have particularly offered time off to tend to personal issues quite frequently, without deducting personal time or pay. Yet, when I need these people to stay 15 minutes one night during the week, they lie and tell me they will, but when I call they're not there manning the phone. (Another employee can confirm their absence.) Why should I bother to continue to extend the olive branch? Clearly kindness isn't working. And if I demand it, they run to the owner saying I'm "mean." What do you do with selfish, boorish, unprofessional behavior? I'd fire the lot if the owner wouldn't have a coronary. Plenty of unemployed people would appreciate all we have to offer. If I can't afford to trust them with something small, why should I trust them with something truly critical?

—Guest TheBadger

Deep rooted mismanagement

How to destroy trust is to nearly blatantly advertise that the system is set up for failure, not take feedback on how to fix it, and then walk around like nothing happened. To deny mistakes were made and call it wrong to point it out. To lash out at new managers who bring a lot to the table for petty issues. To focus on emotions and hurt feelings more than results, then at the end of the year, focus on results and forget about the feeling. Lead with a different strategy every day. Tell managers that they cannot discipline their manager's people, then tell one of their employees to quit or be fired and not tell anyone you said that. Promote a manager and give them no training on their internal financial reponsibilities because it is duct taped together and no one knows how it works. Then expect the highest yield on the investments, criticize problems but not recognize challenges that are the big white elephant in the room.

—Guest ops mgr

Destroy Trust

How about using a Six sigma Blackbelt that can't operate their own laptop without assistance to go and select software for the entire company, without ever even working with the extremely experienced and successful IT department in the process?

—Guest dilbert1000

Trust

Trust has it's starting point early on in life; it's something that's taught/passed on from parent to child. Unfortunately, "true" values have fallen by the wayside as people have become selfish and want to determine who they personally feel is entitled to experience "trust" (truthfulness, honor).

—Guest Murphy1579

Conflict Resolution in Church Workplace

The secretary's job resembles "Lead by Example's" comment to a T. It is relatively easy to destroy trust...simply triangulate from the top down.

—Guest churchlady

A Boss That Lies

Bosses that destroy trust by lying to you and using you! Meeting with you and telling you to trust him only to be telling the same lies to one hundred other employees.

—Guest dd

Lead by Example

How about buy a non-essential, expensive piece of equipment, then cut an employee's hours. The amount spent on the piece of equipment could have paid the employee's salary decrease over three years. Take excessive days off, but expect your employee to be at work on time every single day, no sick days. Sick days are frowned upon and show weakness. Let the employee who gets paid the least amount of money and has the least important title run the whole entire office and field all the important HR questions by herself. It's a hoot!!!

—MelC11

Boss Read through Employee's SMS

Well I want to thank Susan for this article. It's really worth it. You can imagine my own experience with my boss. She requested for my mobile phone to use, got into my SMS's and read all including my job interview offer. Really, I felt very bad and to me it is a breach of trust, because I've discussed virtually my life with her and she pays me back this way. Anyway I quit the job about 3 months ago still hoping to get a better offer. That is how my organisation has destroyed my trust for them. Even though she called me back this month, I told her point blank that I can't work with her again.

—Guest Lydia

What Destroys Trust

When you are few employees and someone is there always to report to the boss thinking that their friendship with the boss will grow by setting on others. And the boss, on the other hand, defends those people in any work failure by always giving justification. Other employees will always work with heart rate and no trust at all because of not being able to identify the ones that report to the boss, few employees is hard to manage.

—Guest sharks

All of These Actions Destroy Trust

Hire incompetent people and wonder why things don't get done on a timely basis. Promise raises, then don't give them. Tell staff they HAVE to work every weekend, then tell them they can't be paid overtime for working on weekends. Promise to hire more staff to help out, then don't hire them because it will cost you too much money. Give staff members an important job title and a secretarial wage to compensate for any feelings of animosity that will eventually happen. Don't celebrate employee birthdays, company anniversaries or retirements except if the employee's office is next to yours. Refuse to answer your phone or email and blame your lack of response on your secretary. Say you want to have a weekly Friday lunch staff meeting, then never show up for the meeting. Tell your staff you love money more than people. Become a hermit by turning off the lights in your office, locking the door, and turning up the music, so you can't hear someone knocking on your office door even if you wanted.

—Guest DD

Bad Management and Leadership

My previous company is a small one with about 30+ employees and is controlled by a lady whom obviously has no management skills and put down everyone not to her liking and not within her 'circle of trust'. When it comes to remuneration and monetary rewards naturally her cliques get everything including herself while the rest get nothing regardless of how much effort was put in. Best of all, the Seniors approve of her doings. Either they are blind or they have been convinced otherwise.

—Guest Shinsei

How to Destroy Trust

Hypocritical behavior - justifying the lack of a raise with one person and turn around and give another employee the percent just denied. Turning projects into a competition between employees by assigning the same project to 2 or more employees, taking up more time than necessary and causing hard feelings between employees when they discover someone else is doing the same project. Setting someone up to fail by assigning a task they trained on 6 months ago and then adding a 2 hour pressure deadline when someone fully trained can accomplish the same thing in 15 minutes at less pay.

—Guest Melanie