Why you need to trust your employees

Do you trust your employees? I mean really trust them. 

• Are they able to make decisions on their own?
• Do they feel confident trying something new for the organization or proposing original ideas?
• Do they feel like they can tell you “NO” if “NO” is the best answer?

You and I both know that there is a difference between leadership and micromanagement. While many leaders might be great at ‘letting go’ in some ways, it is taking that giant leap to fully trusting your employees that will bring you to the top.

Here are three big motivations that should push you to take that leap.

Improve Customer Service and Brand Reputation 

According to Parature, 65 percent of customers have left a company over a single poor customer service experience. Unfortunately, as the leader of the company, there is little you personally can do about it.

You might be running the company, but when was the last time you actually interacted with a customer? Guess what– you are not the brand. Your employees are. They are the ones that customers interact with and influence how the customer feels about your company. When you trust your employees in the field, you will improve the service these customers receive.

• Customers will be able to receive answers and solutions to their questions, rather than being passed up an invisible chain of command
• Employees, who are dealing directly with the customer, will better understand the customer’s needs and offer superior service than a manager in another wing
• Employees will feel more positive about the brand, and communicate that enthusiasm to customers

As customers come to trust that they will receive superior service from your company, your brand reputation will improve, your customer retention will improve, and your bottom line will improve.

Create an Environment Where Employees Feel Appreciated

Consider for a moment that when your employees are engaged with your company, they are more likely to stay late to finish projects, help others at work, and do something beyond what is expected of them.

Trusting your employees to successfully complete their tasks and believing that they will help advance the brand can be an excellent way to make employees feel appreciated. Appreciated employees feel more loyal to their organizations, which can help reduce turnover and increase engagement and productivity.

As your organization develops a culture of appreciation and trust, your employees will also lose their drive to compete with one another and instead they will work with one another. Your work culture will only help drive the company forward.

Give The Organization More Time

As you find yourself placing more trust in the hands of your employees, an interesting thing will happen. You will suddenly have significantly more time to get your own tasks done. Now that you are not trying to mediate client complaints, supervise the employees’ ideas and innovations, or watch everyone over their shoulders, you will have more time to get your own tasks done.

Is it Too Good To Be True?

If you have been more involved with your employees movements until today, you are not going to be able to walk into the office tomorrow and let everything go. Instead, you need to do the following.

• Hire the right people – make sure that they are not only qualified but that they can work well with the desired work culture
• Provide training – make sure employees understand the company’s values and goals and how to implement them
• Offer guidelines – give employees some ideas about how to troubleshoot different situations so they feel comfortable being the face of the brand.

When you learn how to trust your employees, you will find the rewards to be incredible.

This article is published in collaboration with LinkedIn. Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.

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Author: Jerome Knyszewski is a Business Growth Strategist, Online Reputation Management & Marketing Mentor and Author.

Image: Matteo Achilli works with one of his assistants in his office in Formello. REUTERS/Tony Gentile.