Why trust matters during organizational change

Key Points — Trust and Organizational Change

  • Trust reflects how willing a person is to give up some control or accept vulnerability related to another person or group. It’s best to think of levels of trust along a continuum, rather than all-or-nothing conditions.

  • Three things influence how trustworthy you seem to others: ability, benevolence, and integrity. Integrity, in particular, is important for building trust between leaders and staff.

  • Effective change management, including communicating, providing staff opportunities for input, and exhibiting fairness — is essential to avoid potentially damaging effects of organizational change on trust.


Leading change in an organization can sometimes feel like being on one side of a vast chasm, with everyone else on the other side. The challenge is to inspire people to take the leap to join us. While a variety of factors may influence people’s willingness to take the leap and commit to an organizational change, trust is one of the most critical.

 
 

What is trust and how does it “work”? 

Some researchers differentiate between trust, and the things that may enable or support it, as follows :

  • Trust: A belief that if one gives up some degree of control to another person(s) it will not result in loss or harm.

  • Trust Propensity: One’s general disposition towards relying on others.

  • Trustworthiness: Characteristics of a person that inspire or inhibit trust.

Clearly, some of the factors that enable trust are unique to individuals — some people are simply more likely to trust others (trust propensity).

However, the decision to trust another can also be influenced by how that other person acts (trustworthiness).   

Are you a trustworthy leader? 

There are a variety of ways to look at what makes us trustworthy, but we’ll focus on the model put forth by Roger Mayer and colleagues (1995), the merits of which have been supported by various intensive reviews. Mayer identified three characteristics that people use to evaluate trustworthiness. I’ve adapted them below. 

  • Ability: Are you good at what you do? (Skills, competencies, technical knowledge)

  • Benevolence: Are you looking out for my best interests? (Caring, openness, loyalty)

  • Integrity: Do you uphold principles that are important to me? Do you do what you say? (Consistency, reliability, fairness)

Others have found that all three of these dimensions — ability, benevolence, and integrity — were strongly and uniquely related to trust levels. Interestingly, they found the relationship to be similar whether they were looking at interactions amongst co-workers or between staff and leaders/managers, except in one regard.

The link between integrity and trust was much stronger for relationships between employees and managers. Walking the talk, following up, and being fair-minded may matter even more for senior leaders

 
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Experts in the field suggest thinking of trustworthiness, and its dimensions, as a continuum, rather than an all-or-nothing condition. Given that, it’s possible to be somewhat trustworthy. For instance, if I have a high degree of technical ability and am well respected for it, but struggle with follow-through, people may trust that I know what I am doing, but not trust that will do it in a timely manner.

Does trust matter for team performance? 

In general, research shows that trust is positively linked with a variety of work-related outcomes, including more risk-taking and going above and beyond (citizenship behavior). Trust is also related to decreases in counter-productive behaviors (e.g, theft, sabotage, withdrawal.)

Specifically, amongst teams, trust is more important for teams with centralized decision-making — where people depend on one another to get the job done. Further, a review of more than 100 studies shows that trust between team members is linked to better team performance. This is even the case when you take into account other factors, such as trust in a team leader and past team performance. So it’s not enough that everyone trusts the leader of the team, they also need to trust one another.

What’s more, teams that develop an overall environment of psychological safety, in which people feel comfortable asking for help, making mistakes, and sharing their opinions openly, also have been found to outperform other teams.

Conversely, when trust is lacking in a team, people tend to focus their effort and energy on defending their personal interests, rather than supporting the collective goals of the team. (To learn more about the impact of trust on teams, check out my article at Science for Work.)

What role does trust play in the success of organizational change?

Employees’ experience at work influences the level of trust they put in the organization, managers, and team members. In as much as organizational change shifts that experience — by, for example, increasing or decreasing a sense of job vulnerability, competence, or power — it can also impact levels of trust. Some studies suggest that all organizational changes in some way threaten trust, at least early on in the change process.

Various studies have found that communication during change, or lack thereof, can influence staff members’ perceptions of the organization as a place that is honest and trustworthy. In fact, one study reflected that perceptions of the organization as trustworthy took a hit amongst all employees when a merger was announced, but only recovered among groups that received explanations and engaged with managers and leaders throughout the change.

The key lesson here is that organizational change in and of itself may threaten the trust staff has for leaders and the organization, however, effective change management can mitigate that risk, and may, over time diminish it.

How do you measure the level of trust in leaders or between peers?

Given the critical role trust plays during organizational change, it’s often considered a key element of change context. When it’s high, it can be an enabler, but when it’s low it’s an obstacle.

But how do you tell how much trust exists in the organization or team?

Researchers use a variety of measurement scales to assess trust levels. Most are not perfect but have been found to accurately and consistently measure aspects of trust. Many measure the factors that reflect trustworthiness discussed above (ability, benevolence, integrity) as well as trust itself. Importantly, it’s essential to specify who is the trustee (being trusted) — peers, subordinates, supervisors, or top management. If you are interested in the general trust climate in the organization, some research suggests trust in supervisors is a good proxy. (When there is trust in supervisors, there tends to also be trust in subordinates and amongst peers.)

Examples of questions from Mayer and Davis (1999) are below. Studies indicate their integrative trust model is appropriate to use when gauging trust in supervisors, leaders, top management, subordindates, or peers.

TRUSTWORTHINESS

Ability

  • [X] is very capable of performing [their] job.

  • X is well qualified.

  • I feel very confident in [X’s} skills.

Benevolence

  • [X] really looks out for what is important to me.

  • [X] will go of [their] way to help me.

Integrity

  • [X] tried hard to be fair in [their] dealings with others.

  • [X] behaviors are not very consistent. (Reverse)

  • I never have to wonder whether [X] will stick to [their] word.

TRUST

  • I could be comfortable giving [X] a task or problem which was critical to me, even if I could not monitor their actions.

  • If I had my way, I wouldn’t let [X] have any influence over issues that are important to me. (Reverse)

Steps you can take to build trust (and repair it) during times of change

In any leadership context, but particularly for management of strategic or operational change, it can be worthwhile to consider how others view you and how your actions may be shaping these views.  Consider taking the following steps to build change during organizational change:

  • Demonstrate your change competence. This could be technical skills related to the specific change you are putting in place, or a broader ability to manage uncertainty and transitions within the organization. Explaining how you and the organization are resourcing and planning the change and identifying and mitigating risks are all ways to communicate change competence.

  • Show you care. Balancing your commitment to making the change happen, with a commitment to addressing the needs and concerns of staff is critical for change success. Make yourself more available to staff, in small groups or one-on-one meetings, to allow an opportunity to hear staff perspectives and address problems where possible. This is a particularly effective strategy for middle managers involved in change management.

  • Provide opportunities for employee participation in decisions. Creating avenues for staff members to have some level of input into change decisions may increase their motivation to change, their perceptions of the change as fair, and their perceptions of the organization as trustworthy.

  • Make sure your actions align with your words. Making promises is relatively easy to do — following through can be another story. Take stock of how well your actions align with your words. Do your colleagues have confidence that they can rely on you to keep your word and act with fairness, most of the time? If not, what steps can you take to ensure better follow-through?

  • Foster psychological safety in teams/groups: Model asking for help and risk-taking. Provide time and space for learning and demonstrate curiosity by asking lots of questions.

Trust is hard to repair, so your best bet is to invest in building and maintaining trust in all situations. However, when trust has been broken with groups or individuals, research suggests that:

  • If a lack of competence has led to decreased trust, apologizing may be the most effective means of rebuilding trust, rather than denying responsibility.

  • If a perceived lack of integrity has led someone or a group to distrust you, denial has been shown to be more effective (!) It’s thought that if you apologize you are essentially admitting your lack integrity, which will make it difficult for people to trust you moving forward.


Trust is a critical part of our lives, and it’s especially important in the workplace. Leaders who want to be successful during organizational change must build and maintain trust with their teams. The three factors that influence how trustworthy someone seems — ability, benevolence, and integrity — are essential for leaders looking to create a trusting environment. Trust also encourages risk-taking and going above and beyond what’s expected, two things that are often necessary during times of change. If you want to further explore and build your effectiveness as a change leader, consider change management coaching.

This article was originally published on June 7, 2017. It was updated and republished July 9, 2022.


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References 

Colquitt, Jason A., Brent A. Scott, and Jeffery A. Lepine. "Trust, trustworthiness, and trust propensity: A meta-analytic test of their unique relationships with risk-taking and job performance." Journal of Applied Psychology 92.4 (2007): 909-27. Web.  

Dirks, K. T., & Ferrin, D. L. (2002). Trust in leadership: Meta-analytic findings and implications for research and practiceJournal of Applied Psychology87(4), 611-628.

Fuoli, M., van de Weijer, J., & Paradis, C. (2017). Denial outperforms apology in repairing organizational trust despite strong evidence of guilt. Public Relations Review, 43(4), 645-660.

Kim, P. H., Cooper, C. D., Dirks, K. T., & Ferrin, D. L. (2013). Repairing trust with individuals vs. groups. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 120(1), 1-14.

Knoll, D. L., & Gill, H. (2011). Antecedents of trust in supervisors, subordinates, and peers. Journal of Managerial Psychology.

Mayer, R. C., J. H. Davis, and F. D. Schoorman. "An Integrative Model Of Organizational Trust." Academy of Management Review 20.3 (1995): 709-34. Web.

Mayer, R.C. and Davis, J.H. (1999), “The effect of the performance appraisal system on trust for management: a field quasi-experiment”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 84 No. 1, pp. 123-36.

Morgan, D., & Zeffane, R. (2003). Employee involvement, organizational change, and trust in management. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 14(1), 55-75.

Weber, P. S., & Weber, J. E. (2001). Changes in employee perceptions during organizational change. Leadership & organization Development Journal.