The impact of lost trust on workplace wellness

I heard a story last week of a company who asked their employees to fill in a wellbeing survey and the team were too scared to be honest in case it was not anonymous. They feared the repercussions of being honest, saying how they felt and seeking to improve the environment for everyone. As a result, they did not send the survey, the information gathered by leadership will not be accurate or representative of the culture, and most likely, nothing will change.

The most alarming part of this for me is the fact that the leadership team are sending out wellbeing surveys while completely unaware that their staff feel like this. Or they are aware and are not addressing it? How can you be part of a leadership team and not know how your team feels? How can you be unaware of a culture where your team are scared of you? And how can you be lacking so much self-awareness and reflection to not know how you are perceived by your peers and employees?

When ALL of leadership is about relationships, people and growth, part of the skill-set of being a leader is great communication, excellent rapport building and an ability to motivate people. If your team is scared of you, the trust is gone and people feel unsafe and threatened in your presence, this is a huge concern.

Workplace wellness can never thrive in an environment where the trust has been lost and people feel vulnerable. They lack support, the freedom to express themselves and, most likely, the motivation to work to their potential, push themselves or even care. How can leaders not be aware of this?

The problem lies in a complete lack of self-awareness, since we cannot change things if we are not aware of them. This indicates that they do not talk to their colleagues or teams, there are not many (or any) opportunities for truthful and honest feedback where this is appreciated, and the team feel there is no point in expressing feedback since nothing will change.

Leadership teams should be asking themselves if they are open to, reflective with and professional when receiving feedback. It is part of the role to be criticized and not liked or appreciated by everyone, and if they cannot handle this, they should, quite simply, not be in the job. There is no room for ego when leading a team. Listen, reflect and act.

If companies want a true reflection of how their staff are feeling, firstly, they need to know that employees feel comfortable in giving their opinion, feel supported by leadership to find a way back to a happier place emotionally and feel hope that things can improve. Without these in place, the results received in surveys and interviews will never be accurate.

Reflect on completion figures and percentages, on the over-riding feelings of the masses and the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the leadership team. It may be hurtful and it is hard to take when people do not perceive you as you want to be, but it is never too late to change. Get out the office and speak to people, do the rounds, invite people in for meetings and catch-ups, distribute surveys and delegate others in the leadership team to feedback on how people are feeling.

It is essential that leaders know about their colleagues’ wellness, and it is their responsibility to implement methods to find this out. No one can improve if there has been no problem identified, but whether or not people feel safe to express how they feel, is a direct reflection on the leadership team.  Establishing this, is the first step to an honest, open and trustworthy plan for workplace wellbeing.