The Story Your Employees Tell
Safety came in second.
I did an employee listening engagement for a business that said safety was their number one concern. They put a lot of time and money toward safety as a company, and ensuring safety was part of daily and weekly front-line leader meetings and conversations. But during my confidential one-on-one conversations when I asked the employees an open-ended question: “What does [company] care about most?”, safety was not number one. Almost half told me the company cared most about making money. Less than a quarter said safety.
For context, I always followed up their answer with “Tell me how they demonstrate that to you.” Every company cares about money, and employees know that. What the company says matters, but the behaviors of the company and its leaders are what put actions behind what’s most important.
What leaders say and do shape beliefs more than what is shared in formal team and company meetings. So, I wasn’t surprised when I read the Gallup results about employee trust in how leaders use workplace data. Only 20% of employees have a great deal of trust in their leaders to use data responsibly. (1)
To be fair, Gallup didn’t measure the gap between what leadership said and what they did. They asked employees who work on a computer or another device regularly about workplace data such as badge swipes, number of emails sent, meeting content, websites visited. Most employees haven’t heard anything from leaders at all, which is worse.
Trust is built on clarity—clarity on what is said and how leaders act. When leadership is silent, behavior is the only story left. No matter if people like the story told to them, it will always be better than the story they tell themselves.
For the company who said safety was their number one concern, employees learned that safety became less important than meeting the numbers management expected— even if it meant skipping steps or rushing the job.
Organizations are juggling more priorities than ever before to stay competitive. Adapting to market and customer needs, accelerating technology and innovation. Preparing their workforces to keep up all while delivering profits.
When everything is a priority, employees look to leaders’ behavior to see which one is the biggest priority. That makes clarity and communication even more critical—especially on the drivers of the business, like technology.
I wrote an article a few weeks ago called “The Angry Customer Just Clocked In” about the growing distrust of technology and data. I talked about Flock cameras, dynamic digital pricing and the impact on people’s personal lives, to the point of it being difficult to leave those feelings at home when they walk out the door.
This picks up where that article left off: employees’ perceptions about data, and personal data security at work. Gallup found only 19% of employees say anyone at work has talked to them about the data their company collects on them. Even managers and leaders are in the dark with 23% unsure what employee data they access and 27% saying they can’t access it at all.
I spoke to a woman whose company told them during an all-hands meeting they now had access to Copilot with their Microsoft Teams. The CEO told them to, “go in an play” with the AI to get familiar with its capabilities. Then were told leaders would be watching them to see what they learned. Immediately everyone went on high alert that they were being “watched.” She said the following quarter during the all-hands, leaders continued to urge employees to use the tool, saying they were surprised by the lack of the interaction with Copilot.
Clear communication makes a difference. Gallup says employees who have had a conversation about how their workplace data is used are more likely to have a great deal of trust in leaders to use it responsibly, 26% compared with 18%. Purpose matters too. When activity data is used to help managers support team effectiveness, 62% of employees are comfortable with it. And 61% are comfortable with it being used to help them improve their performance or development.
Between research like Gallup and what employees share in listening conversations, leadership has both qualitative and quantitative data that tells them what employees value. To gain trust, there are two easy steps:
1. Communicate with your people. Tell them what matters to the company and why it should matter to them. When it comes to their data, tell them what you collect, how you use it, and what you won’t do with it.
2. Walk your talk. If you say something is important, show them with your behavior. Employees notice what you prioritize, what you celebrate, what you let slide. That’s where they learn what you truly care about.
Every day, employees decide what leadership cares about most. They decide it as they are walking in the door. They share the stories with each other in the hallways and with friends and family at the dinner table. The story you tell—and live—will always be better than the story they tell themselves.
I use AI as a thought partner to challenge my thinking, identify gaps, and surface perspectives I hadn’t considered. Anything that comes from AI goes back through me. I push back, verify, and decide what gets included. I only use data from primary sources. They are clearly identified in my writing with links for you to dig in. Before publishing, I run my final draft through AI again for spelling and grammar. Typos and grammar mistakes still happen. I'm not perfect and neither is AI.
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