Trust as a competence (resource) for change in times of disruptions and digitalisation.

Over the last 30 years, digitalisation and disruptive innovations have challenged existing business models and processes; and have necessitated radical and constant adaptation.

Insights from IMO (Institut für Management und Organisation) research, however, suggest that adaption to date has so far failed to engage with the socio-psychological components of business management. This is backed up by data from a research project were 280 change processes were analysed. The results showed that 54% of employees rejected the change process. At the same time, staff loyalty declined by 56%. Especially problematic was the behaviour of the top management during the change process. The change concepts were often perceived as not well thought thru and in in its execution not plausible. Lack of presence, commitment, incompetence and a disparity between words and action were found to be damaging to trust in the company. Worryingly, mismanaged change processes also lead to a turnover of top performers of 52%, in part also due to a lack of trust. Hence, retaining trust during a change process is vital for its success.

Trust is the expectation that another person will see one’s actions favourably. As a consequence, trust not only reduces complexity and transactional costs within an organisation, but also acts as a motivating force in creating a common purpose.

Trust reveals itself in:

· A voluntary provision of a risky advance payment of trust by the trust giver

· By waiving explicit security and control measures

· In the expectation that the recipient of the trust is motivated and capable,

· To meet his obligations benevolently in a social context towards the trust giver

Trust is a cornerstone of knowledge-based, flat organisations and is created on two levels: interpersonal on the one hand and systemic trust in the organisation and its representatives itself on the other. At IMO, we identified three factors, which are invaluable for nourishing trust:

1. The personality of the trust receiver

2. The dimensions of the relationship between people

3. The environment of the trust-relationship

In summary, trust is a vital component of successful change management. As outlined, this has been found to be often in vain, in large part due to a lack of trust between employees and in the organisation itself.

In order to tackle these hurdles, our expertise in change-management can help you along the way.

Contact: Karl.Schmidt-Degen@imo-bochum.de

The article is an abstract of „Vertrauenskompetenz als Ressource für Veränderung in Zeiten von Agilität und Digitalisierung (Teil 1)“ by Harri Fechtner, Institut für Management und Organisation.