Office of Culture and Experience

Building Trust with Your Team

August 2, 2017 • Leadership

Trust. It seems today that trust if one of the main focuses on how to build a great working environment. Leaders and Supervisors are being taught to instill trust within their own offices/departments. But when it comes down to it, is this really being practiced?

UNTHSC’s values are built on trust. As employees, we are enhancing and learning new ways to establish trust with others. We are learning what trust should look like; but, I am sure each employee has their own belief about what truly creates Trust. I am going to talk a little about how not only I, but how the whole Financial Aid Office (FAO) has established Trust with each other and the office as a whole. The first and most important step to building trust is to believe in your staff and their decisions. I have mentioned to some in the past, but one example is when the FAO has to interview for an open position. During the interview process, the staff make the decision on who they want to hire. I put my two-cents in, but the staff decide who they feel would best fit the role for the open position. The reason for this is the current staff are the ones who will be training the new employee. They will be the ones working with them on a day-to-day basis. This decision process of who to hire allows the staff to work together with one goal: to hire someone they would enjoy working with and they feel have the character and competence to do the job. I must say that the Financial Aid Office has had very little turnover since 2009, and this is something that we take pride in. When a new employee starts, the staff step in to assure the new employee feels comfortable right from the start.

Another example our office builds trust in each other is processing our day-to-day tasks. Each employee is encouraged to find new ways to improve our daily tasks. If they find a better, faster and more convenient way to do a tasks (and as long as it stays within federal, state and institution guidelines), we test it, and once all agree, we implement the new process. This type of trust has allowed the FAO to become the great success it is today.

There are several other things that we do to build trust with the FAO, but I feel these two mentioned are two of the most important. How do you build trust within your team?

Joseph Sanchez

Director, Financial Aid

2017 HSC Fellows Candidate