SEATTLE, WA (CRANBERRY) June 14, 2012 -- When trust isn’t present at work, employees spend more time watching their backs than doing any useful work. This creates a downward spiral of lost productivity, abysmal engagement scores and, eventually, increased attrition. A new article by Impact Achievement Group explains why trust is so vital, the mistakes companies make trying to instill trust, and how to create trust with a consistent, values-based plan.

“The Leadership Trust and Values Dilemma: Undermining Business Results with the Best Intentions” offers a look at the many hidden business costs that a lack of trust produces. Of the many factors that build or erode trust in organizations, perhaps the most influential is the alignment of people’s actions with the espoused values of the organization. When behavior--especially leader behavior--does not align with the espoused values, then leaders’ actions become the actual values of the organization, and trust is put at significant risk.

“The alignment of leader behavior with the espoused values of the organization determines whether or not employees see leader behavior as predictable and can anticipate or at least understand a leader’s decisions and behavior,” said Lee Klepinger, president and chief executive officer of Impact Achievement Group. “That’s what trust is, and trust isn’t merely a `nice to have’; it’s an essential component of any organization that hopes to remain healthy and achieve its business goals.”

Trust, then, is created as everyone within the organization follows a clearly defined set of standards, or values statement. Yet the creation of a values statement and its application to company life can be complex. The article discusses: