Promoting accountability and trust in workplace

When we talk about trust, one could easily describe it as a belief and reliability of each other. For example, two employees are in a shop, and now have to sell ice-creams daily to earn their salaries. What if the two employees take different shifts and take charge of the shop? Let’s call him employee A; one is obedient, loyal, and self-disciplined and works his best to sell ice cream, whereas employee B is the opposite of employee A. He is least interested in selling ice cream, and as an employee who is the last one to close the shop, he tells the owner that he was the one who sold everything today, and employee A has yet to make any efforts. So, does employee A want to work with employee B at any level? No, right! But because of employee B, employee A will also leave the job, and the sales of the ice cream shop will drop further. Similarly, within teams and organizations, if people form a bond of trust, the work and revenue of the organization will improve.

Let’s now take a different example of two employees working on a project. Both have to collaborate to ensure that the project they are working on is successful. One is responsible for costs and revenue generation, and the other is responsible for looking after the design and completion of the model of a product. As the different aspects of the project have been divided amongst the two team members, they are dividing the expertise in each segment. One is looking at the costs incurred and what could be the projected sales after the completion of the project. Another member is working on the designs and successful and timely completion of the product. They both are reliable on each and understand each working style. They will sit together and brainstorm the challenges they might encounter and how they can solve them. This understanding is because they are both accountable and trust each other. So, now let us learn how to promote accountability and trust in the workplace.