The IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication: A Guide to Internal Communication, Public Relations, Marketing, and Leadership

Conclusion

We conclude by emphasizing what we know is true: trust matters and, in fact, trust is the main thing!

Organizations with high trust levels have better results than do those with low trust levels. Although this makes sense, not enough effort has been expended in intentionally trying to build trust. In the past, we as leaders have treated trust as too subjective to strategically direct our focus. That is a mistake. Trust influences communication and results from communication. We can build trust with competent people who have integrity and know the importance of strategically using a variety of effective communication processes. We can build trust by focusing on competency, openness and honesty, concern for employees, reliability, and ...