What’s the Best Way to Build Trust at Work?

Trust is a conviction that is built slowly, through repeated interactions that take place over a long period of time.

Recent research suggests that our mass shift to working from home during the pandemic has started to corrode our trust in our colleagues.

• The simple act of verbally acknowledging how your coworkers are feeling can help you form deeper connections with them. 
• Acknowledging negative emotions boosts trust more than acknowledging positive emotions. When you acknowledge negative emotions, people feel that you care more, and therefore are more willing to trust you.
• When someone acknowledges our emotions, rather than the situation, we feel more validated and humanized.
• If you mistakenly acknowledge a positive emotion (“You look calm”) when someone feels bad can really hurt trust.