Trust is a Must. Does It Exist in Your Organization?

According to Ethan Wolff-Mann, a reporter for Yahoo! Finance, the biggest lesson consumers learned in 2017 is that your data is probably not safe.  Company after company disclosed data breach after data breach and in Wolff-Mann’s opinion, there is only one winner of the not-at-all coveted Yahoo Finance “company that screwed you the most this year” award: Equifax.

Three out of every five U.S. adults were affected by this data breach, which included phone numbers, emails and Social Security numbers.  And the most disturbing fact of all?  Equifax is a credit bureau, the guardian and gatekeeper of intensely personal financial data.

Wolff-Mann rightly points out that, “Like Wells Fargo and its 2 million accounts they made without customer permission, Equifax has squandered trust, a pillar of its existence, by allowing itself to have incredibly shoddy security that should have been addressed.”

Squandered trust – a pillar of existence for many organizations and also a pillar of employee disengagement.  An engaged employee can be described as one who trusts senior leaders and feels an emotional connection to the organization.  The moment trust is lost, disengagement – and a lack of productivity, creativity, retention, customer satisfaction and revenue growth – ensues.

What is the single biggest driver of trust in leadership among employees?  It occurs when an employee thinks a leader cares about them.  It’s that basic.  Now you can understand why I continue to say that employee engagement is simple.  Because showing you care is as well.

WHAT CAN I DO?  Here are 11 simple ways to show your employees you care, compliments of Forbes.com and contributor John Hall.  Being a great leader isn’t difficult, replacing great employees is.  Don’t let it get to that.

Jill Christensen is an employee engagement expert, best-selling author, and international keynote speaker. She is a 2017 Top 100 Global Employee Engagement Influencer, authored the best-selling book, If Not You, Who? Cracking the Code of Employee Disengagement, and works with the best and brightest global leaders to improve productivity and retention, customer satisfaction, and revenue growth. Jill can be reached at +1.303.999.9224 or  jill@jillchristensenintl.com.