Rebuilding Trust, Especially After Layoffs
Trust is more complicated than we think—which is why organizations struggle to retain talent and rebuild culture after negative events.
Earlier this year, Melissa’s organization went through a reorganization; the restructuring meant many talented and long time employees were laid off.
Those who remained experienced the expected survivor’s guilt; there was also a general malaise hanging over Melissa’s team—many had new responsibilities, new leaders, and new ways of working. Few had much enthusiasm.
Maybe it wasn’t a surprise, then, that some folks took job offers elsewhere. The team had a 14% attrition rate, a few months after the reorganization.
“What can leaders do to rebuild trust?,” Melissa asked a group of her peers.
The complexity of trust
I’ve heard more than one executive suggest that after layoffs, team members should “just be grateful to have a job.”
Melissa wasn’t that kind of leader. She knew many people felt like trust had been violated.
But how do you fix something as nebulous as trust? We can start by making the idea of trust less nebulous.
We often think of trust as being a binary proposition—you have it, or you don’t. Yes and no. But in reality, trust is more complex than that.
We trust the people in our lives in different ways and for different purposes. That’s because there are four different types of trust. Very simply:
Contractual: will you do what you say you’ll do?
Competence: are you capable of the work?
Relational: will you care for me as a person and keep my confidence?
Visionary: do we have a shared idea of the future that we’re both invested in?
That last one is the biggest surprise: it doesn’t show up in other models of trust, but my colleagues and I discovered it as we interviewed team members about their business partner relationships.
People told us again and again that those they trusted most had a shared vision of the future that shaped the way they made decisions.
This makes sense when you think about healthy couples and families. We have a visionary trust that we’ll be together for the long term—and we make decisions and invest our time as if that is true.
These types of trust work together, and yet you can have a good working relationship without fully possessing all of them.
That guy in IT? Maybe you have contractual and competence trust for him, without having relational trust. And your visionary trust extends only as far as this software installation.
Just like trust overall is not binary, neither are these types of trust. They all exist on a continuum.
Imagine four sliding scales, next to each other. I might trust you relationally enough to say I don’t understand a work assignment, and to ask for your help. But not enough to share about the fight I just had with another colleague.
How trust is violated in layoffs
The challenge with layoffs (reorgs, reductions in force, restructuring, etc.) is that the action violates all four kinds of trust, even for the employees that remain in the organization.
Contractual trust is violated because the social contract of employment is broken for those who are let go. That leaves those who remain asking, “Can I trust that I won’t be dismissed too?”
Competence trust is often violated because the process is obtuse. Leaders often fail to communicate the reasoning behind why cuts were made to certain teams, leaving us to wonder if they really understood the implications of their choices.
If the organization is really struggling, we wonder if the restructuring will actually help.
If the organization is adopting a new business model, we wonder if it’s really the wisest choice.
Relational trust is violated because, most likely, the organization had previously tried to develop a culture of caring and investment in employees. Now it’s clear that the relationship is more transactional than we wanted. Once again, we have to ask, “Can I trust that I won’t be dismissed too?”
Visionary trust is violated because we’re no longer all headed in the same direction. The vision has changed. If we aren’t yet bought-in to the new direction, if it hasn’t been communicated compellingly and our concerns addressed, we won’t share the same vision.
A checklist for rebuilding trust
Rebuilding trust after layoffs takes conscious attention to all four types of trust. You must inch them further along their continuums each day by speaking transparently, explaining your reasoning, resolving challenges created by the restructuring, and creating a compelling vision for the future.
Here are a few questions that serve as a checklist:
Have we been as clear as possible about why and how decisions were made?
Understanding of decision making processes can help restore competence trust.Have we been truthful and transparent in speaking about the future? Reassuring team members that no future cuts are coming can help rebuild contractual trust. But only if it’s true.
Reassuring team members that the organization is financially stable can calm fear. But again, only if it’s true.Have we acknowledged the emotions and experience of people who have lost teammates?
Layoffs impact relationships. Acknowledging this gives people permission to grieve. That sensitivity can help rebuild relational trust.Relational trust can also be rebuilt through individual attention to those who are most impacted. Address their questions thoughtfully.
Is our vision for the future clear and compelling? Do people see their place in it?
Finally, rebuild visionary trust by clearly articulating the vision for the future, and make sure remaining team members understand their contribution to it. People support what they help to create, so engage them in building the future going forward.
That’s a starting place for rebuilding trust. More will be needed, of course. But by working to truthfully address the four types of trust, and with the addition of time, progress can be made.
Most of us that have spent a decade or more in the workforce have been through layoffs before. If you remained in the organization, what actions helped you recover? Share below.
Bonus Question
I need a palate cleanser after all this talk of trust and layoffs. Here’s one of my favorite ice breaker questions: Tell me about your first job.
My first job was working on Saturdays at a local video rental store. The store also sold helium balloons, and served as the base for a satellite TV installation business. Customers were few and far between, and the highlight of each Saturday was the Watchamacallit candy bar, which I bought with my employee discount each afternoon.
What was your first job? What did you learn from it? Leave a comment to share.
I was a cart boy and bagger at a local supermarket! It was junior year in high school. I learned that cleaning up jars of liquid that fell on the linoleum floor was SUPER tricky.