January 29, 2018
Article
Harvard Business Review (website)

How to Build Trust with Colleagues You Rarely See

Format:Electronic

Abstract

Building trust is key to success for any organization. But that can be tricky when it comes to colleagues that you only interact with virtually. What does it take to build trust when you can’t meet in person? In this piece, the author suggests that professionals should focus on cultivating two types of trust — swift trust and passable trust — to become more familiar with one another. In addition, they should develop two types of knowledge — direct and reflected — to learn both about the behavioral norms of their distant colleagues (and how their own norms might appear to others). With a greater understanding of these different types of trust and knowledge, both managers and employees can work together to improve morale.