The Purposeful Culture Group

Today, it seems that trust of workplace leaders in the USA is at a very low ebb. According to reports, many American employees plan to look for a new job when the economy stabilizes. Those that do cite low trust of their workplace, senior leaders, direct bosses, and even co-workers as a primary driver.

Two recent research studies have noted this “age of mistrust.” According to Deloitte’s 2010 Ethics & Workplace Survey, one-third of employed Americans plan to look for a new job when the economy gets better. Of this group, 48 percent say that a lack of honest communication from company leaders is their primary reason for that decision. This survey also reports that 65 percent of Fortune 1000 executives who are concerned with the upcoming “talent drain” believe trust is a factor in this potential voluntary turnover.

Maritz Research’s recent workplace study echo’s the Deloitte findings. According to the Maritz poll, only 11 percent of American employees strongly agree that their managers show consistency between their words and their actions. Only 7 percent of employees strongly agree that they trust senior leaders to look out for their best interest (!) and only 7 percent believe their co-workers will do so.

The Maritz poll also found that about 20% of respondents do not believe that their company’s leader is completely honest and ethical; fully 25% disagree that they trust management to make the right decisions in times of uncertainty. Of those employees who do not trust company management, only 3% look forward to coming to work every day!

Behavioral Integrity: A Proven Practice for Building Trust

In September 2002, Cornell University professor Dr. Tony Simons published an article, The High Cost of Lost Trust, in the Harvard Business Review. In that article, Simons describes his team’s efforts to examine a specific hypothesis (“Employee commitment drives customer service”) in the US operations of a major hotel chain. They interviewed over 7,000 employees at nearly 80 properties. What they found was that, indeed, employee commitment drives customer service, but, most critically, a leader’s behavioral integrity drives that and more.

Simons’ team defines behavioral integrity as “managers keeping their promises and demonstrating espoused values.” Their research methods and analysis discovered:

1. When employees believe their bosses have behavioral integrity, their commitment goes up.
2. As employee commitment goes up, employees willingly demonstrate discretionary effort. Employees are more proactive, more present, and more productive with the application of their discretionary energy.
3. Employee discretionary effort is visible to and highly valued by customers. Customers respond by staying more frequently, staying longer, eating on property, etc.
4. Those customer behaviors generate higher profits. Significantly higher profits!

Dr. Simons’ team created an assessment that measured behavioral integrity on a five point scale. Their analysis found that a 1/8 point gain on this scale generated a profit gain of 2.5% of annual revenues . . . which translated into $250K for each hotel! This study made an important link – one that had not been demonstrated before: manager behavior, specifically keeping promises and demonstrating company values, generates hard dollar profits.

Simons’ work continues at The Integrity Dividend with a book, programs, blog, and more.

Sharon Allen, Deloitte’s chairman of the board, notes that, by focusing on talent management and retention strategies, “executives may be able to reduce attrition.” She goes on to state, “Establishing and enforcing a values-based culture will ultimately help cultivate employee trust.”

We’ve seen significant positive impact of behavioral integrity in our client’s evolving organizational cultures. If you need help with the creation of a values-aligned workplace, reach out to us.

This is the time of year when managers and leaders are inspired by the summer weather. They decide that their team needs to do some outdoor bonding and celebrating, so they sign up for a “teambuilding” session. Activities such as paintball, whitewater rafting, ropes courses, simulations, cooking competitions, and the like are common team building exercises. The hope is that the team activities will help improve relationships across team members, increase cooperative interaction, and team productivity.

The reality is that many of these teambuilding programs do not generate long term benefits. How many of you have gone to a teambuilding program yet found that little changed when the team returned to their work environment?

To ensure teams benefit from teambuilding activities, spend time planning exactly what goals you have for the session (“what do you want to accomplish with this activity?”). Find a provider that has proven experience with intentional instructional design and focused facilitation to help embed take-aways, beneficial agreements, and help teams demonstrate desired behaviors back on the job.

Before you engage in teambuilding, consider a more foundational step first. Our research and experience tells us that teams need clarity of purpose, values, goals, and strategy as a foundation for team performance and team member morale. Chartering your team helps align team member skills and effort towards the accomplishment of agree-to goals and targets. In addition,  these clear agreements enable desired norms in how team members work with and treat each other as they  work to accomplish team goals.

Key Elements of a Team Charter

Your team charter formalizes performance expectations and team values, which clarifies what the team is delivering and how they’ll work to deliver those products and/or services. It is a working document that evolves as the team learns how to increase productivity and team member satisfaction over time. The main elements of a team charter include:

1. Organizational Vision, Purpose, and Values – all teams are “sponsored” by the organization in which they operate. A team must understand the vision, purpose, and values of the company so that it can align team purpose and values with those defined organizational elements.
2. Team Purpose – the team’s purpose statement identifies what the team does, for whom, and why it is important. A clear purpose provides direction for identifying team goals and the roles needed to accomplish those goals.
3. Team Values and Norms – Values are the enduring principles that guide team and team member plans, decisions, and actions. Norms are the day-to-day ground rules that clarify appropriate behaviors for team members.
4. Team Goals and Roles – goals identify the measurable outcomes and timelines that must be delivered upon to ensure team success. Roles define the individual responsibilities required for the successful operation of the team.
5. Team Practices – this section defines the team’s strategies and processes that ensure the team stays on track to deliver promised outcomes. Practices include communication strategies, decision-making authority, and accountability practices.
6. Team Resources – these are the tangible materials the team needs to accomplish its goals, including time, budget, people, equipment, training, etc.

Most teams get a goal or project and madly start working on goal accomplishment. Without these clear charter agreements, though, teams experience what Peter Drucker described when he said, “The only things that naturally occur in organizations are anger, frustration, and fear.” If your team would benefit from clear agreements and norms – if conflict, silos, and entitlement inhibit team performance – formalize a team charter.