Leadership Institute

Building Trust

Learning Format: Classroom, Web-Based

Order No. WD74

Broken promises. Failed teams. Stalled initiatives. Sagging morale. These are just some of the destructive consequences of a lack of workplace trust.

Trust is the responsibility of each individual -- no exceptions. When it’s there, you feel it. In a trusting environment, you see more teamwork, partnering, and productivity. This course gives you hands-on, proven strategies for building trust in the workplace.

Do You Face Any of These Issues?

  • Do people in your company sometimes feel they can’t rely on their coworkers?
  • Do they break their promises?
  • Do they feel they need to “cover themselves” more often than they used to?
  • Are projects getting increasingly bogged down?

Performance Objectives

Helps associates:

  • Take steps to strengthen trust in their interactions.
  • Build a history of trust with coworkers.
  • Encourage open communication.
  • Develop an action plan for building trust with coworkers, team members, customers, and leaders.

Primary Competency Developed

  • Building Trust

Secondary Competencies Developed

  • Gaining Commitment
  • Integrity

Course Overview

  • Trust -- What’s It All About?: An experiential activity allows participants to see how easily they can act in untrustworthy ways. They discuss the personal and organizational effects of mistrust and learn the importance of sharing responsibility for building trust in the workplace.
  • Trust Traps: A video introduces five common behaviors that make a person appear untrustworthy. Learners identify personal trust trap experiences.
  • How to Build Trust: The facilitator reviews the role of three Key Principles in building trust as well as five techniques for building trust.
  • Putting It Together: Using video and case studies, participants identify effective uses of Key Principles and trust techniques. With an action planner, they determine additional ways the characters could use these tools and skills to rebuild trust. Participants brainstorm everything they know about each trust technique and present insights to the group.

Video Segment Summaries

  • Vignettes illustrate each of the five trust traps.
  • A cycle of mistrust follows a series of misunderstandings.
  • The previous situation is shown -- this time handled in a trustworthy manner.
  • Scenes illustrate how the five trust trap scenarios can be turned into trust-building opportunities.

Course Details

  • Target audience: All employees through frontline leaders.
  • Course length: 3 hours, 45 minutes, or 1 hour, 50 minutes Fast Track.
  • Facilitator certification: DDI-certified facilitator required.
  • Prerequisites: Interaction Skills for Success or Essentials of Leadership.
  • Series: Suitable for all environments.
  • Group size: 10 to 20 people.
  • Prework: No.

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