Trust and Neuroscience

Introduction

Neuroscience is helping us understand how to build trust in organisations. A culture based on trust results in more productive, happier, engaged workforce, ie 
"...Compared with people at low-trust companies, people at high-trust companies report: 74% less stress, 106% more energy at work, 50% higher productivity, 13% fewer sick days, 76% more engagement, 29% more satisfaction with their lives, 40% less burnout......50% more planned to stay with their employee......88% more would recommend their company to family and friends as a place to work......60% enjoy the job more, were 70% more aligned with their companies purpose and felt 66% closer to their colleagues......had 11% more empathy for their workmates, depersonalise them 41% less often......felt a greater sense of accomplishment......41% more......employees earn......17% more..."
Paul Zak, 2017

Trust can lead to higher engagement, ie

"...having a strong connection one's work and colleagues, feeling like a real contributor, and enjoying ample chances to learn..."
Paul Zak, 2017

This leads to better outcomes of both individuals and organisations, like better productivity, better-quality products and increased profitability.

Oxytocin

Trust is linked with the brain chemical oxytocin, ie you need to stimulate oxytocin production to generate trust.

Researchers found that high stress is a potential oxytocin inhibitor, ie when you are stressed out, you have less effective interaction with others.

However, oxytocin increases a person empathy; this is a useful social trait for working with others

Eight key management behaviours to stimulate oxytocin production and foster trust.

i) recognise excellence (recognition is most powerful when it comes from peers and is public plus personal, tangible and unexpected)

ii) induce 'challenge stress' (giving a difficult but achievable task results in moderate stress that releases some neurochemicals (including oxytocin and adrenacortictropin) that intensifies people's focus and strengthen social connections)

iii) give people autonomy (this involves giving people discretion in how they do their work; autonomy promote innovations as people experiment)

iv) enabled job crafting (allow people to focus on what they most care about; include people being accountable and responsible what happens)

v) share information broadly (this results in less uncertainty; uncertainty about an organisation's direction leads to chronic stress which inhibits the release of oxytocin and undermines productivity, teamwork, etc)

vi) intentionally build relationships (generally focus at work is on completing tasks, not building relationships; yet oxytocin about bonding, ie building relationships and social connections; research has shown
"...managers who expressed interest in and concerns of team members' success and personal well-being outperform others in quality and quantity of their work......When people care about one another, they perform better because they don't want to let your teammates down..."
Paul Zak, 2017

vii) facilitate whole-person growth (encourage both personal and professional development; personal growth is about work-life balance, integrating home-life, allocating time (for family, recreation, reflection, etc)

viii) show vulnerability (be prepared to ask for help as it taps into the natural human impulse to cooperate with others, etc)

Summary

"...Managers can cultivate trust by sending a clear direction, giving people what they need to see it through, and then getting out of their way. In short, to boost engagement, treat people like responsible adults......high-trust companies hold people accountable without micromanaging them..."
Paul Zak, 2017