Evidence for Trust at Work

How can you build high-trust organizations? And how to integrate trust into your leadership- and HR practices? These were the starting questions during a leaders lunch, organized by Balance HR.

Trust as the basis of any relationship

In recent years there has been an explosion of interest in the concepts of autonomy, personalization and self-management at work. The result is a fundamental shift in the relationship between employer and employee.

A common principle in this evolution towards less control is that it starts with trust. Trust is the basis of any relationship. Evidence shows that trust is related with a range of benefits in the workplace, such as job performance. It takes effort and know-how to build trust, but it's likely rewarding.

• Prof. Dr. Denise Rousseau provided us an introduction into the scientific findings.
• HR Leader David Ducheyne gave us practical insights on how to build trust at work.

Evidence-based takeaways

• Evidence-based Managers are trusted and seen as competent.
• Evidence-based decision making educates and builds trust.
• Grow the competence and mutual trust of your management and workforce: via critical appraisal of multiple sources of evidence, transparency, reflection, and outcome assessment.

Pictures by Raf Michiels