Soup: A Recipe to Nourish Your Team and Culture

Chapter 21. The Survey

The bad news was that the results of the trust survey showed that the company's employees didn't trust Soup, Inc. Years of mismanagement and a focus on rewarding lazy leaders, while at the same time overworking and mistreating employees, had led to a collective mistrust of the company. Not to mention the fact that the executive suite served as a revolving door. It seemed like every year, a new leader appeared who appointed a new leadership team and formulated a new direction for the company. Yet many of these leaders never stayed around long enough to do what they said they were going to do, and those who did stay ran the company and the culture into the ground. Why would the employees at Soup, Inc., trust the company when the company did everything to violate their trust?

The survey showed that while most of the employees shared Nancy's optimism and were excited about her vision, they nonetheless believed that either the company would be sold off before Nancy could accomplish her goals or she would leave for another opportunity. With this sinking-ship mentality, people at all levels of the company were more focused on their own survival, their own paycheck, and their own future than on the future of their team and the direction of Soup, Inc.

Nancy had to laugh at herself. How could she have missed this? It was so basic, and yet she had completely overlooked the importance of trust. Without trust, people wouldn't commit themselves fully to their team, to the ...