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In most relationships, people want to have trust—with a romantic partner, with a family member, with a doctor or a dentist, with a mechanic or a plumber. In those relationships, without trust as a foundation, much can fail. Shouldn't we see it the same in the workplace? After all, a company’s success is based on trust—consumers must trust the brand, and employees, who, in essence, sell trust to consumers, most definitely need to trust their leaders. CommuniCon, Inc., says that “high-trust organizations have increased value, accelerated growth, enhanced innovation…and improved collaboration.” So why is it that, according to the 2013 Edelman Trust Barometer, 82% of people don’t trust business leaders to tell the truth? If you’re a leader in your company, that statistic should be alarming.

Luckily, it’s never too late to start building, earning, and increasing trust, and one basic building block is communication. Note that word well, though, because too often, leaders confuse the skill—communication—with its vehicles—communications. Gaining trust is not about which channels you use. It’s about the messaging—and the truth behind it—itself.

Written by Mary Schaefer – President, Artemis Path, Inc.

You can make sure your people are using their natural strengths. You can focus on job fit and culture fit. Is that all there is to ensure motivated employees?

When I think of supporting employee motivation, my thoughts go a slightly different direction. What if you demonstrate that their contributions make a difference? You can do this through empathy. Yes, empathy.

If you want to cultivate motivation, don’t do this.

There are those times when employees are put in the position of dealing with disappointment or being denied an opportunity to contribute. Management calls a project to a halt. A budget cut sends employees’ current job assignments into a spin, perhaps impacting the trajectory of their careers. This gnaws at people. I don’t often see attention given to addressing the meaning employees assign to such changes. They end up feeling bad because of what it means to them. They are expected to roll with the punches. After all, “It’s just business.”

Many people agree: a workplace culture of fear limits employee engagement, productivity, and retention—and by turns, the bottom line. But often, leaders aren't cognizant that they've created that environment. However, Gallup surmises that lost productivity due to lack of employee engagement costs U.S. companies $300 billion annually. Other studies show that happier—and therefore more engaged—employees are more likely to be more “creative, productive, and committed.” In other words, good leadership doesn't have to be with an iron fist—in fact, more often, it shouldn't include iron or fists at all.

One way for leaders to ensure that they aren't creating a culture of fear is to consciously do the exact opposite—create a culture of happiness and fun. Which can be daunting; after all, to some leaders, “fun” might seem frivolous, and other leaders might see “happiness” as the employee’s responsibility. However, just a few changes to the environment can make all the difference to an employee’s productivity.

In summertime especially, it’s easy to let the lure of everything outside the office (blue skies, birdsong, vacation plans) distract you from being productive in the office. Luckily, summer is also the best time to start taking steps to develop new habits that can last throughout the rest of the year.

To bolster productivity, try these tips:

Get up earlier. Giving yourself even just an extra 15 minutes in the morning can make a huge difference to how the rest of the day plays out. It might allow you to fit in a balanced breakfast, leave home without being in a stressed-out rush, and get to the office in time to set an attack plan for the tasks of the day. If getting up early scares you a little, try small increments at first, like five minutes earlier per week until you've gotten to 15—or more. Starting this habit in the summer is easier because of the amount of sunlight in the mornings; by the time winter (with its dark mornings) hits, you’ll already be acclimated to your get-up-earlier routine.

Thanks to the ongoing Values campaign from Foundation for a Better Life, folks across the nation have been supplied with tidbits from the lives of the famous and the not so famous—snippets that, through inspirational messaging, provide motivation to dream, to do, and to hope for what might seem like an impossible success. The billboards, TV commercials, radio spots, and videos remind us of the historic trials—and, in fact, the failures—of arguably rather successful people. Like Abraham Lincoln, whose story was riddled with personal pain, sacrifice, ups, and downs before he achieved the ultimate success of becoming the 16th President of the United States. Or Thomas Edison, who purportedly failed thousands of times before he created a successful light bulb.

In both cases, these men could have done what many human beings do: they could have shied from the risk of trying again. They could have taken the safe route, the well-traveled path, the life of complacency. Instead, both men continuously took both personal and professional risks to keep doing what they believed in. And, ultimately, through all of the risks, they were both remarkably successful. Had either been content to remain in his comfort zone, imagine what might be different for our country or our lifestyles today. Should it be any different for corporations?

Corporate culture is nebulous—different for each company and sometimes hard to develop, especially in the shifting sands of the business world. But the companies that get it right, the companies that not only champion culture but truly cultivate it, and demand the same of their employees, are the ones that stand out and thrive.

Take Southwest Airlines, for example, with an uncompromising focus on its three Ps of culture: Performance, People, Planet. The company’s determination to drive every decision, every sale, and every interaction based on its distinctly defined culture has made the airline a leader in its industry, far surpassing its competitors in consumer satisfaction.

In many companies, leaders and managers are promoted to their roles because they have, or appear to have, the foundational characteristics of certain leadership traits. They are good communicators: they share the goals of the company, they listen to and understand their employees, and they don’t shy from the difficult conversations. The good ones are mentors, supporters, and advocates. They surround themselves with talent, and figure out effective ways to develop those staff who lag in performance. Promoting these types of leaders makes sense for many companies.

Unfortunately, in sales organizations, this situation doesn't always exist. Typically, salespeople who are promoted to leadership roles are those who were the best at their trade: sales. They know how to close deals, and as individuals, they brought in the numbers. But the skills that make them good salespeople don’t translate to the same skills needed to be good leaders, and if they don’t change their mindset from that of “best closer” to “best talent developer,” they’re missing out on ways to build an entire team of sales closers for the company, because "coffee is for closers only" - Glengarry Glenn Ross.

Written by Kathy Caprino, M.A., President, Ellia Communications Inc.

I hear from hundreds of women each month asking a fascinating variety of career and work-life questions, hoping for some guidance. But one question emerges more frequently than any other, from women of all walks, levels, and capabilities.

The one question I hear more than any other is, “How can I figure out what my passion is?”

I had a powerful personal experience this week that I think exemplifies the answer to this question and I’d like to share it with you.

I had the wonderful opportunity to attend two important conferences in New York City that opened my eyes to new insights and learnings. The first conference was on business innovation and “disruption,” sponsored by WOBI, and the other was Claudia Chan’s S.H.E. Summit, a global women’s leadership and lifestyle event. WOBI on Innovation focused on the many, multifaceted disruptions that are impacting business today, and the tremendous upside opportunities they present for those flexible and aware enough to both spot and react to them quickly.