by Javier Munoz
As we go deeper into this subject, we find that one of the key factors that enables sharing of goods and services among total strangers is TRUST. As society grows more skeptical of large institutions, we may start to rely more heavily on developing closer one-on-one relationships. It is a sort of reconciliation with the idea of creating real tribal like communities as a new model for modern collaboration bringing back what was usual centuries ago.
Thus, we find that companies will thrive in the future if they continue to strengthen TRUST as a value. When we advise successful companies in the subject of corporate culture and happiness at work, we realize that they list TRUST as a key value in their organization. Conversely, one of the most prevalent issues we find in dysfunctional cultures is lack of trust.
If we look at our Happiness Framework, we see that one of the key factors driving happiness at work is connectedness between employees. This entails more than just creating a nice work atmosphere with parties and team building off-site exercises. It also has to do with the intrinsic factors that make for strong relationships where one of the fundamental pillars is building TRUST.
Robert F. Hurley, professor of Management of the University of Fordham in New York, mentions, in a Harvard Business Review article, that when conducting surveys in his seminars about corporate trust, he asks participants in low trust work environments to describe their experience. The most frequent answers included: Stressful, threatening, divisive, unproductive, and tense. Conversely, when he asked the same question in high trust environments the answers were quite different: Participants experienced a supportive, productive, and fun work environment that was highly motivating. Corporate cultures that motivate trust are indeed the most collaborative.
About Javier