Leading Through Trust

In her monthly leadership series, Dr. Barbara Schmidtman—vice president of cancer health operations at Corewell Health West—offers her perspective on addressing workforce-related issues through effective leadership practices. Find all her posts in this blog series on the ACCC website.

The last time I wrote for ACCCBuzz, I shared that I would try to find nuggets of wisdom that were inspiring me in my work and day-to-day life in hope of inspiring you. After the cloud of the pandemic begins to pass and we—as healthcare providers—find new and inspiring ways to get through tough obstacles, keeping topics that are uplifting at the forefront of conversation will hopefully be refreshing.

One topic that keeps coming to my mind is trust: Trust in what we know and don’t know, as well as trust in one another. Trust is fundamentally one of the hardest things to earn and one of the easiest things to break. Gardner suggests that trust is something that is earned and must be confirmed periodically. When I reflect on trusting someone, I not only think about their actions but also their words. And these exclusively go hand in hand. For those of us working in cancer care, our patients entrust their lives to us, as we become a part of their journey for a period of their life. We get the privilege of building long-standing, trusting relationships with our patients, and we must earn this trust. In building trust with patients, we also hope to foster an environment where these relationships can be sustained.

Building Trust Within Teams

Outside of any interactions with patients, we too need to create an environment where trust is kept among our co-workers or the individuals we lead. But how do we do that?

We can build trust among our teams and within our workplace by doing the simple things— following through on tasks, listening to others (not just hearing them), asking questions, being there for someone when they need it, helping one another, and always understanding that everyone is different and that our uniqueness should be celebrated. There are a plethora of other heartfelt actions that can show we care, and research shows that building and maintaining trust helps to drive employee satisfaction and commitment to organizational objectives. Ed Schein, a well-known expert on organizational culture, describes the interwoven system of beliefs between our individual culture, team culture, and organizational culture as highly complex and that communication and behaviors must be adapted to meet the needs of individuals within the team. This is how I believe we promote trust and drive employee satisfaction and engagement, by building open and trusting relationships with each other.

How is Trust Diminished?

I have observed on many occasions how trust can be destroyed, from something as simple as not following through when someone says they will to egregious behaviors that make others fearful or afraid to speak up.

All too often, especially with as busy as we have become, we forget the power of individual moments. Each moment is a contribution to the inter-relational trust factor between the individuals that are present and the teams in which those behaviors may or may not have an impact. Not to mention, distrust can cause all sorts of emotions to unfold, ultimately leading to disengagement and the potential likelihood for someone to leave and find another professional endeavor.

Below are two questions to help you reflect on your own relationships and trust building:

1. How will you build trust among your colleagues going forward?

2. And can you reflect on your actions over the last year as to how you build or break trust?

If your reflection leads you to thinking that you have worked to earn the trust of those around you, then how will you share your win? If you reflect that perhaps you have lost trust in someone or that they have lost trust in you, how might you work to fix that?

Barbara Schmidtman, PhD, has worked in healthcare for more than 20 years in a variety of professional and clinical roles. Currently, she is the executive director of cancer health at Spectrum Health West Michigan in Grand Rapids. Dr. Schmidtman is the ACCC Workforce Subcommittee Chair, a subgroup of the association's Governmental Affairs Committee. Dr. Schmidtman earned her Ph.D. in business administration from Northcentral University, where she specialized in industrial organizational psychology. Dr. Schmidtman’s doctoral studies focused on physician behaviors and how demonstrated physician leadership affects individuals and teams—either positively or negatively. Dr. Schmidtman has a passion for speaking locally and nationally on leadership styles and approaches.