Background Checks in Business, Trust Can’t Prevail
Trust is an essential part of our day-to-day interactions. However, in many cases, trust remains a conscious emotional decision. You choose to trust an individual as you build a closer bond with them.
Trust in the workplace is another matter. While it doesn’t mean that employees and employers should be suspicious of each other, it’s not reasonable to establish a partnership on a trust basis. As trust is an emotional choice, businesses need to rely on facts and contracted protection.
Can trust exist in a business environment? Yes. Should you make it a part of your professional decisions? No. Trust can be too easily broken with dramatic consequences to the company. Here are 5 business situations in which trusting too easily could come back to haunt you.
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The partnership that can’t grow
What makes a good business partner? Countless business owners describe a partner as someone they can reach out to outside of work hours. Indeed, many believe that the ideal business partner is a friend or a relative. It’s someone you know well, and you can rely on them.
Except that running a business is not the same as taking your best friend for a meal. In a business partnership, transparency in objectives and finance is essential. Decisions need to be justifiable and strategic.
Unfortunately, the existing emotional connection can make disagreements about strategy or money difficult. When a partner rejects a suggestion, the other partner could struggle to dissociate the personal relationship from the venture partnership.
As a result, some may experience a sense of emotional distress and betrayal when both partners don’t see eye-to-eye. Admittedly, you want to work with someone who understands your values and goals. But building a partnership with a friend can prove unmanageable when business strategy constantly threatens emotional trust.
Background Checks in Business: The assumption everybody knows it’s a spam
The pandemic has exposed individuals to rapid digital transformations. For many professionals, working from home has become the new normal. Home-based employees develop a routine around their IT requirements. However, it does not make them cybersecurity experts.
Too many companies fall into the trap of trusting their employees to identify and recognize threats. Unfortunately, the “trust” here is not built on existing evidence but on the assumption that working with technology every day could instantly make someone more aware of cyber risks.
The assumption could backfire dramatically, affecting the whole company. This is precisely why every business must improve its cybersecurity, as you cannot rely on the belief that your team knows what to do. Hackers are constantly coming up with new approaches and strategies to take advantage of individual errors and weaknesses.
It is the role of the business to protect its infrastructure. While dedicated cyber training can improve risk awareness for the team, it doesn’t replace a cybersecurity strategy.
The blow-out office chat
Businesses invest a lot of time and money in team-bonding strategies. However, working together doesn’t justify trust. Some employees remain suspicious of their co-workers because they are concerned about the risk of backstabbing for promotion.
Some co-workers are only interested in their advancement. They are ready to turn a casual conversation against a colleague if it guarantees them a better chance at the job. Unfortunately, the company can’t prevent such behaviors. Therefore, employees need to learn how to protect themselves against potential backstabbing habits.
Documenting work contributions and making sure you don’t confine unnecessarily into your co-workers can help protect your job. It can also be helpful to share your work with a manager and the HR team to keep traces of your performance.
The collaborative chaos
Working together as a team is not as easy as it sounds. Teams require organization and appropriate task assignments. Without a clear schedule and to-do list, some tasks may never be completed. It is presumptuous to trust that everyone on the team shares the same goal and work methods.
Some employees work better with micro-management, while others are more independent. Trusting the team to be self-organized can be counterproductive. As everyone works differently, it becomes necessary to establish a strategic plan that overlooks all activities.
Background Checks in Business: The Best Applicant for the Job Was the Worst
First impressions are long-lasting. Recruiters often know without a few seconds of meeting an applicant whether they are ready to trust them. However, first impressions are not always accurate. Trusting an applicant on the sole basis of a positive impression could be dangerous. That is why businesses need to perform background checks on all potential employees. The last thing a company needs is to hire someone who isn’t suited for the job.
Should you trust your business partners, co-workers, or employees? In an ideal world, you want to build an atmosphere of trust and friendship. However, trust doesn’t replace organized processes, qualifications, strategic decisions, and evidence. Do your homework before you choose to trust in the business world.
