Integrity and trustworthiness are qualities that are essential to future success in any career. In this article, I elaborate on some ways you can earn trust and demonstrate integrity. Few people focus on how to convey those qualities. Rather, they simply rely on the ability of superiors, peers, and subordinates to discern those characteristics in them.

I have found that the perception that a person is arrogant can be a significant barrier to his or her success in the workplace. Examples of how arrogance can be conveyed might surprise some people. People can convey arrogance inadvertently by the way they dress, their body language, the words they use, how they react under stress or when being confronted, and even how they carry themselves.

I have successfully coached many people on how to demonstrate integrity and earn trust. In addition, I have coached and mentored several young people on how to avoid the death knell of arrogance. Dealing with these issues (which often are largely perceptual) is particularly gratifying and meaningful for those who don‘t realize they are inadvertently projecting the wrong persona.

Displaying Integrity in the Workplace

As you come to understand the culture of your own company or a company at which you hope to secure employment, you may or may not find that the company intentionally identifies integrity as a corporate value and makes it a part of its everyday practices.

A climate of honesty and trust that is fostered and communicated from the top can be quite effective. It sends a message to employees and customers that exhibiting these characteristics is a priority.

But even if you aren’t so fortunate to work for a company that explicitly identifies integrity as an important core value, it is extremely important for you to demonstrate integrity as an individual.

The really great leaders of our time, whether in business or in any other profession, almost all seem to exhibit one consistent character trait: integrity. They serve as role models of integrity by doing what’s right, no matter what the circumstances may be. They do what they say they will do. Often, they are devoid of personal agendas as they focus on the greater good of their companies and the customers or people they serve.

How to Display Integrity

Even if you consider integrity to be one of your core values, your integrity won’t be apparent to those around you unless you take actions that display your integrity. Here are some ways to do that.

1. Be Honest

You’ve heard it said that “honesty is the best policy.” That is as true in your work life as it is in your personal life. Of course this means avoiding lies, but it also means avoiding exaggeration or even putting an inappropriately positive spin on a negative result. We all want to put our best foot forward, especially in sales and marketing materials, but you cross the line when you stretch the truth. Strive to always convey information or results with equal precision, whether that information is positive or negative.

I used an expression with my employees that encouraged and welcomed full disclosure of bad news as well as good. I let them know I valued their willingness to “tell me what I need to know, not what I want to hear.” I couldn’t deal with a problem I didn’t know existed. So I genuinely wanted to know all bad news or emerging bad news so I could deal with it before it became a more serious problem.

Gain this understanding with your superiors, peers, and subordinates. In my view, withholding or sugar-coating negative information is a form of dishonesty that can have potentially bad consequences.

2. Keep Your Word and Your Commitments

You will develop a reputation of integrity if you are meticulous about delivering on your promises and fulfilling your commitments. If you say you are going to do something, do it. Make every effort to complete it within the committed time frame.

I strongly caution you not to make the mistake of overcommitting to promises you might not be able to fulfill. If this happens, you will quickly develop the opposite reputation to the one you are trying to establish.

3. Be Accountable and Take Responsibility

Inevitably, you will make mistakes at work. The best way to display integrity is to admit to a mistake. Apologize if it has hurt someone else or damaged a relationship.

Your reputation will flourish if you make a practice of “giving credit and taking blame.” Even if a bad result is because of a team failure, consider taking the blame yourself. And whatever you do, don’t claim that you are solely responsible for major team accomplishments. At all levels in organizations, I have often encountered people who do the opposite: They “give blame and take credit.”

Building Trust in the Workplace

According to a 2019 survey from Pew Research, 64 percent of Americans think their trust in each other has been shrinking. Almost half of Americans (49 percent) link the decline in interpersonal trust to a belief that people are not as reliable as they used to be. Many ascribe shrinking trust to a political culture they believe is broken and spawns suspicion, even cynicism, about the ability of others to distinguish fact from fiction.

But Americans are optimistic that trust among one another can be restored. The majority—86 percent—believe the level of confidence Americans have in the federal government and each other can be improved. Solutions they offer include spending more time with people and practicing empathy.

Whether in politics, business relationships, or our personal lives, trust is an essential component of healthy relationships. The more we can do to build trust among those around us, the more we can thrive.

In the workplace, teams accomplish so much that it is essential to your reputation, your success, and the company’s success that participants in a team effort trust one another.

It requires a conscious effort to maximize the probability of earning the trust of others. The success of a team-oriented project requires that the participants rely on each other. That reliance is best facilitated through mutual trust.

How to Earn Others’ Trust

Follow these tips to build trust with your peers, subordinates, and superiors.

1. Praise the Work Others Do

Be quick to praise others in the workplace and give them credit for their work. In so doing, you will build trust and be perceived as a gracious person. While it may seem difficult to do this for someone whom you may perceive as a competitor of yours, it will go a long way toward establishing a strong working relationship.

2. Avoid Complaining or Gossiping

There is no quicker way to be distrusted than to be a complainer or a gossiper. Gossip is potentially lethal to a good relationship. Even if you are complaining or gossiping about others and the subject of your gossip or complaint never finds out about it (which is unlikely), the people you are complaining to will almost certainly wonder if you are also complaining or gossiping about them to others.

If you seem to be developing misunderstandings or issues with coworkers, try to resolve them in private conversations with them rather than talking to others about the issues. I have found that in a well-thought-out and calm discussion, resolution almost always occurs because the other person realizes you really care about the relationship.

3. Show Trust in Others

This seems pretty obvious, but it really is true that if you demonstrate trust in others, they are likely to reciprocate. Until they prove otherwise, trust your coworkers to execute tasks they say they will do, to meet committed deadlines, and to be honest.

If you are in a position that requires you to manage other employees, you will inadvertently communicate distrust by constantly watching over them or micromanaging. You obviously need to monitor progress, but not by pestering them daily. I typically had regularly scheduled meetings with each of my direct reports twice each month to track progress.

4. Avoid Displaying Negative Body Language

Use body language as a trust builder and sustainer, as opposed to a trust destroyer. It can be difficult to control your body language, but making a concerted effort to do so will go a long way to establishing trusting relationships.

Our faces and our posture often convey negative messages to someone who is speaking to us. Frowns, negative head nods, and even what we do with our eyebrows can communicate disagreement, skepticism, and anger. Sitting with your arms crossed on your chest or slouching in your chair can communicate an unwillingness to listen, disinterest, or disagreement.

Reacting to what someone else says by laughing at it or scoffing is likely to cause them to think twice about sharing ideas in the future. It might even shut down effective communications.

Conversely, positive body language such as smiling, making eye contact, nodding your head affirmatively, and leaning into the conversation will make your coworkers comfortable. It will make them feel connected with you and will make them willing to engage more fully in providing their opinions and offering new ideas.

5. Treat Your Coworkers with Respect and Dignity

Remind yourself often that you recognize the worth of every human being. Someone’s title or job grade doesn’t change that fundamental belief. Reflect that in how you treat everyone, whether they are the CEO or someone from the custodial staff.

If you fail to treat anyone in your organization with respect and dignity, it will be noticed, and you will risk conveying arrogance. That can be a devastating roadblock to your future advancement.

6. Be Humble and Occasionally Self-Deprecating

Great leaders in any field, including business, often exhibit great humility, understate their accomplishments, and even joke about their shortcomings. Being self-deprecating shows people that you do not consider yourself to be superior to them.

The litmus test of leadership is if others will follow. Think about your own life experiences. How inclined are you to follow someone who displays a powerful ego, demands perfection from his or her workers, and brags about personal accomplishments while giving little credit to employees? We all have known people like this. In my experience, they are more likely to fail than to succeed by almost any measure.

The following are just a few characteristics, qualities, and behaviors that will enable you to convey humility in the workplace:

• Admit when you are wrong.
• Take responsibility for your failures.
• Give credit to others for successes.
• Ask for others’ opinions on important matters.
• Be a good listener.
• Exhibit compassion and exercise kindness.