𝗡𝗼 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 for 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁?

Time pressure is often high in business 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀, especially restructuring. No room for uncertainties. So only a small “elite” is entrusted with running the program.

However, success depends on the share of staff owning transformation activities. Doubling participation rate 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻 to shareholders, as research shows. So how to overcome the “trust gap”?

You trust someone based on relevant experience with them (or the experience of trusted others). 𝗡𝗼 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮, 𝗻𝗼 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁. You wouldn’t randomly pick anyone off the street to look after your children.

So, onboarding many of your staff simultaneously in a critical transformation is a question of 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆: You need to see how each of them are getting on to build trust while not losing time.

Exactly this information efficiency is provided by transformation platforms like ChangeMaker. They build 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲. By creating transparency around progress and impact. Where people are visibly progressing well, trust results. Even when not doing well, the cause is often visibly outside peoples’ control, and trust still results.

But trust must be 𝗺𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹.

Not only must senior management trust in their project members, but also the other way around. Transformation platforms replace the random probing and poking interpreted as distrust (“why did they pick us to report, don’t they trust us?”) by an objective process that treats everybody equal.

What methods do you employ to build trust at the scale of an organisation?