What lack of teamwork, trust at workplace costs

The cost of not building teamwork, trust, commitment and loyalty can’t be overestimated. High turnover cost is one, but failure to retain reliable and experienced employees on your team is surely your undoing.

If you’re aged over 40, it’s essential to remember that what makes workers loyal today may not be what made you loyal yesterday. It’s tempting to think of compensation, seniority and benefits as top methods for achieving commitment and loyalty, but looking beyond our own personal experience can give us a true picture of how loyal today’s workers are.

Consider the following: From a representative sample of about 2,000 employees, only 45 per cent agreed that “I believe my organisation deserves my loyalty”; 32 per cent were neutral and 23 per cent actively disagreed. In the same study, 54 per cent of employees disagreed that their leaders have high integrity.

Also, Tom Peters Principle advises new-economy workers: “Forget loyalty. Try loyalty to your Rolodex”. Aon’s Loyalty Institute found that 13 per cent of respondents distrusted their employers on the most basic level — workers did not feel free from fear, intimidation or harassment at work. HR management gurus concede that success in building team trust, commitment and loyalty has eroded due to corporate restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, and the increasing pace of change.

The Aon research shows that trust is such a basic requirement that without it, a company’s other benefits and programmes will not significantly raise employee commitment. Watson Wyatt found a relationship between trust and profitability. Where employees trusted executives, companies posted returns 42 per cent higher than those where distrust was the norm. Clearly, trust is key to loyalty — particularly in a tight labour market.

Admitting mistakes

So how do we foster building team trust, commitment and loyalty in a constantly changing environment? The answer can be surprisingly uncomplicated. There are certain leadership behaviours that matter to employees and managers who consistently practice them are rewarded with deeply loyal staff.

These behaviours centre on the foundation of personal integrity, and include: Setting a personal example, respecting others, sharing information and involving employees in decisions and admitting mistakes. Others are; listening, being objective and consistent, providing effective feedback and following up.

A key CEO in one of Kenya’s millennium Development Agencies discusses the concept of a “Loyalty Contract” — a reciprocal relationship of loyalty based on trust. This concept of building team trust and loyalty in the workplace isn’t really any different than less formal agreements we have in all areas of our lives. We agree to be loyal if loyalty is returned to us. This doesn’t mean perfection on both sides; in fact, it can be the opposite. As loyalty increases, so does tolerance and forgiveness. Establishing a loyalty contract with employees isn’t difficult — it begins with trust and integrity. Simple, right?

In conclusion therefore it’s critical to work as a team and cultivate good work relationships and solutions more than negative aspects of employees. People need to be appreciated and given support at all times. Delivery will be the outcome of the management style be it dictatorial or democratic.

Staff should be treated with due respect and appreciated no matter how little they are perceived to deliver. Further it’s crucial to understand employee roles and target assigned to them before we condemn them.

—William Birech, Manager HR & Administration works at the Commission on Revenue Allocation, holds MBA (Strategic Mgt), BCom (HR), HND (HR) and is a full member of IHRM Kenya