The One Thing Every Company Needs
Here at Canon, our company’s corporate philosophy of kyosei represents the “spirit of cooperation” in which individuals and organizations live and work together for the common good. This includes building harmonious relations with its customers, suppliers, partners and everyone it comes into contact with. To strive towards kyosei, we first set out to establish trust – trust between employees and the company.
Trust is an essential component in establishing strong and long-lasting relationships between a company and employees. It can affect workplace relationships, employee satisfaction, retention, and even productivity. In fact, a study done by the Harvard Business Review has shown that employees in high-trust companies are often less stressed out, more productive, and happier with their lives.
This trait is indeed the key for a happier and healthier team, especially in today’s highly competitive landscape, where trust can sometimes be an elusive quality in most businesses. Here are some ways to foster a culture of trust in your company.
Transparency and open communication
People, especially employees, need clear communication. When upper management is ambiguous in what it shares with its employees regarding future plans, it shows a lack of clarity in vision, and also indicates to employees that the company does not trust them with this knowledge.
An example of how a company can encourage more open communication with its employees is to have a full staff meeting either every week or month that discusses what has been done during the period of time between each meeting, and future plans. Another suggestion is to encourage an open-door policy to encourage communication within different teams in a company.
Clear communication builds rapport which in turn builds trust. Once you have established the trust, it is important to maintain it.
Manage Trust in a Safe Environment
Employees can get anxious about being the unknown and will tend to assume the worst when they are not informed about a new development. When upper management meets and does not share important information, unwanted rumors can start and employees can become jaded and distrustful.
On the other hand, when people share their thoughts, feelings and considerations, or when a company, regularly informs its members what is going on, everyone knows where they stand. Employees feel as though they have a stake in the company and trust can really develop to push the company to greater heights.
Recognising talent
Cultivating an environment where employees feel as though they are valued is vital - leaders need to trust that they will give their best to the company. Recognition is key, that’s why Canon often appreciates our staff members who have gone above and beyond their job scope to achieve excellence.
The stories of Mr. Ramachockalingam Sam, a Salesforce System Administrator at Canon Singapore; Mr Abdul Aziz Jafar, Service Engineer; and Mr Peter Lim Corporate Service Division Engineer are just some of the examples of how members of the Canon community have impacted and helped each other.
Failure is OK
Recognising your talent and staff individually also means it is important to encourage a spirit of experimenting - this includes embracing mistakes and failures. If your workers feel as though they are in a working environment where mistakes are met with severe consequences, they will not be motivated to try anything new.
By allowing room for failure, teams are likely to be more creative and innovative, a mentality that will arguably make strides towards progress.
Trust is one of the most fundamental aspects of any relationship; it speaks to the integrity of a person and of a company. It is important that when that trust is established, it must be maintained and nurtured, taking great care not to break it. By creating a culture of trust within a company, it makes it easier for employees to build strong relationships with their clients and business partners - a win-win situation for all.
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