People management specialist on trust, knowledge sharing, and virtual relationship building

Dr Dominic McLoughlin is a people management specialist with a keen interest in trust in organisations. He spoke with The HR Leader about his transition from industrial relations to HR, his academic research, and knowledge sharing in the workplace.

Dr McLoughlin shared how his experience working in industrial relations revealed the reactive side of HR, and that his later work ‘on the other side’ has been more proactive HR. He explained how trust and knowledge sharing intersect, with trust being essential to employees feeling like they can try things, learn from them, and grow – even if those things aren’t always a success.

The conversation covered some ideas that HR leaders can use to promote both trust and knowledge sharing in their workplaces, as well as tips for those wanting to make virtual working a success.

Dr McLoughlin highlighted some of the pitfalls of virtual work environments, including missing out on casual ‘over the desk’ conversations and a lack of human connection when people don’t use the video function for team video calls. He explained that being mindful of only inviting those who need to be at a meeting might help improve meeting engagement and success, musing that the virtual meeting of the future might well include the use of holograms.

Dr McLoughlin kindly provided the following references:

Dirks and Ferrin (2002): https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2002-15406-001

Mcloughlin (2014): https://www.amazon.com/Knowledge-Worker-Trust-Within-Organisations-ebook/dp/B00TQE7WMA 

McLoughlin (2022): https://www.amazon.com.au/Better-Manager-Five-Minutes-Day-ebook/dp/B0BHBW589B/