How can a manager undermine the trust of an employee? There are a number of common ways this can be done. Revealing privileged and confidential information is one method that will make employees extremely distrustful of a manager. A supervisor who is too quick to penalize, criticize, and reprimand employees tears down barriers of trust because, really, who will trust someone who comes off as mean-spirited? Then, there are issues with absentee managers. Such managers are the ones that disappear from their desks for extended periods of time with little or no explanation. Such managers undermine trust because they do not develop decent professional relationships with employees.
Unfortunately, some managers will not take such an issue as employee trust very seriously. They may even embody flippant attitudes assuming that if an employee really wants his or her job they will perform as expected regardless of their feelings towards a supervisor. This is a very poor attitude to take because it is also an unrealistic one. Remember, when an employee is good in the work, he/she need not ever feel anchored to any particular job. In other words, if they find their current employment situation less than desirable, they might very well depart for a better work environment. And, if this becomes a frequent problem with reliable employees, it will not reflect well on the manager.
Keep something very important in mind, if upper management starts to take notice of the departure of quality employee's from a particular supervisor's division, this will not reflect well on the supervisor. It may even seriously harm the supervisor's own future career potential. That is why it is important to establish a more pleasant relationship with subordinates since it is also in the manager's best interests to do so as well.
Does this mean that a manager must become over accommodating to an employee? No, this would be a self-defeating prophecy because such behavior would make the environment too relaxed which is also not desirable. Instead, a proper medium between authority and a relaxed environment must be maintained since this will yield the best results.
In short, it is best to avoid behavior that would undermine the trust your employees have towards a supervisor since this would be create a terrible office environment. And, remember, once trust is lost it cannot be recaptured. Always keep that fact in mind since it is of critical important to successful management.