Closing the chasm between know, like and trust
The gap between the three is wider than it’s ever been, and the increasingly multigenerational workforce is part of what is stretching it out.
The truth for employers is that it is a bigger issue than you realise. The world is saturated with marketing messages, AI content and influencer culture and not all of those messages are honest or well-intended.
Why should people believe yours about what you stand for as an organisation or what you are like to work for?
And what you see as a good answer to those questions might be different according to the generational differences in the workplace. On average the gap between know, like and trust is different between them all.
A Gen Z who has not known a world before the proliferation of ghost jobs, AI processes applications and the 7am thanks-for-your-service emails may also be far more interested in hearing a decent answer. Trust for Gen Z is not given. It is earned slowly and lost quickly.
And for the Boomers including details in the job spec about the organisation’s weaknesses might raise the alarm. Essentially ‘if this is what they are prepared to tell us, then how bad are the bits they are missing out?’
But no employer can assume that your title, experience or track record will automatically take you all the way to trust.
So what to do?
Here’s four aspects to consider.
TL;DR
Know, like and trust are not automatic. Leaders in a multigenerational workplace must actively build all three (and separately). A minority of UK employees trust their senior leadership. This piece sets out four practical strategies to close the gap starting with radical transparency.
1. Radical transparency
Let’s start at the very beginning with ‘know’.
Before anyone can like or trust you, they need to know you. Not your job title. Not your LinkedIn summary. You.
In a multigenerational team, this matters enormously. A 22 year old Gen Z employee and a 55 year old Baby Boomer may have very different ideas about what a leader looks like and how they should behave. Neither will simply assume the best, you have to show them.
Radical transparency is not about oversharing. It is about being clear and honest regarding how you think, how you make decisions, what you value and what you expect. It means telling your team how you prefer to communicate, what your working style is and where your blind spots are. It means admitting when you do not know something and expecting that of others..
Gen Z can spot spin instantly and it is a major turn off. Increasingly that is true of everyone else. But if your stated values and your actual behaviour do not match, they will likely notice before anyone else.
You don’t have to drop the shield all the time, people still expect a little game face from time to time, but you do need to show that you can and you expect it from others too.
2. Be honest about your organisation's limitations
Clarity about what you are not can be just as important as what you are.
That means you don’t oversell your organisation to future employees, and particularly not to young ones.
If you want to be liked, and you need to be if you want to get to trust, then avoid glossy job adverts that bear little or no resemblance to the actual role. The same applies to values statements that only exist on a wall or glib promises about career development.
If your organisation has challenges, say so and invite your potential employees to help you solve them. If the career path is unclear, be upfront about it. If the culture is a work in progress, acknowledge that when you make clear where you want to get to.
Gen Z in particular is far more forgiving of imperfection than they are of dishonesty. And in a world where Glassdoor reviews, social media and word of mouth mean the reality of working somewhere is increasingly visible, the gap between what you say and what people experience is harder to hide than ever.
This matters for the like element specifically. For senior leaders and hiring managers, this also means being honest about your own limitations. You do not have all the answers and you shouldn’t bluff that you do. Humility is best expressed, not stated.
3. Be consistent, especially when inconvenient
Ultimately the know, like, trust chasm is yours to close.
If you have got as far as like, consistency can take you to trust. You have to do what you say you will do, every time, even when it is difficult.
It is easy when targets are hit, but when they are not your team will notice when values are trodden on and promises forgotten.
In a multigenerational workplace, inconsistency is particularly damaging. Gen Z has a finely tuned radar for hypocrisy. They have grown up watching institutions say one thing and do another. If you tell your team that work-life balance matters and then send emails at 11pm, you have created a contradiction (even if ‘they don’t have to reply’). If you say you value psychological safety and then react badly when someone challenges you in a meeting, it is on you.
And you are not the best judge of your own consistency. Your team needs to be asked, just as you might evaluate them. There are good reasons why the B Corp movement has grown so quickly, as it represents a standard and a set of expectations with independent validation. (Not seen it? You should).
Do folks feel they are treated fairly when it comes to pay and conditions? Or promotions? Or in how they are managed? Remember that trust deficits tend to be wider for Gen Z and underrepresented groups.
You can’t please everyone and you shouldn’t try. But you can be consistent against what you said you would do.
Consistency is the slow, unglamorous work of being the same leader on a bad Tuesday as you are on a good Monday, but it is the bedrock of workplace trust.
4. Align customer and employee experiences
You don’t need to pretend that your people are customers and vice versa, but you do need a strong sense of alignment that both are engaging with the same organisation.
Reputation management cuts both ways now. If you are a poor company to work for, you can expect it to affect your customer base. Why should the consumer spend their hard earned money on a company that treats their people badly? Expect that to matter even more the larger the purchase.
Many of your colleagues will be both, and they are a very valuable source of information. Spend some time with them and ask them about their joint experience, and how it tallies against the individual experience.
How do your organisation’s values play out in the consumer experience? Which has the stronger reviews and why? Would your current people happily stay as a consumer if they ever leave?
And best of all - did your consumer experience influence your decision to apply to work at the company?
Remember that
Know, like and trust are three separate things that need to be built separately and deliberately. Seniority does not deliver any of them automatically.
The gap is widest with Gen Z and for good reason on the basis of their formative experience, but the more time we have all lived in an online virtual world the more it has grown for others too.
Closing the gap is a collective leadership responsibility. The tone, the culture and the conditions are set by you. If the know, like and trust gap is wide in your organisation, the place to start is with an honest look at your own behaviour and communication.
A multigenerational team is an asset, not a problem. The organisations that learn to bridge the generational gap and build genuine trust across it will have a competitive advantage that is very hard to replicate.
FAQ
1. Why is the know, like and trust gap wider in a multigenerational workplace?
Each generation has a different (but not mutually exclusive) relationship with institutions, employers and authority. Gen Z in particular has grown up with greater access to information, greater exposure to corporate disappointment and a more sceptical starting point.
2. Can trust be rebuilt if it has already been damaged?
Yes, but it takes time and cannot be rushed. The most effective approach is to acknowledge what went wrong clearly and specifically, change the behaviour that caused the breach and then demonstrate that change consistently over an extended period. Verbal apologies without behavioural follow-through tend to make things worse, particularly with younger employees.
3. What is the single most important thing a leader can do to close the know, like and trust gap?
Find out how wide your gap is in the first place. The problem may exist at an earlier stage than you imagine.
https://www.thebelongingeffect.co.uk/multigenerational-workplaces-toolkit
Alex Atherton is an award-winning Gen Z speaker and generations expert who helps organisations navigate multigenerational workplace challenges. Author of The Snowflake Myth, he specialises in Gen Z recruitment and retention and leadership development.
How can I help you?
Talks, workshops and seminars — I am an award-winning speaker. My talks include recruiting and retaining Gen Z, understanding Gen Z, overcoming the challenges of the multigenerational workplace plus those relevant to the topics below. Speaker showreel here.
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