Trust sounds like an abstract topic, but it’s in almost everything. Here I want to talk about why it matters so much in a team and how you can develop it.
These days we find it hard to trust people, and we even think trust is barely present in our daily lives. Wrong. All of our relationships are full of trust, from the most trivial to the most serious. A simple example: you know the names of several coworkers. You almost certainly never checked the ID of any of them; you trusted that they’re called what they told you they’re called. In other words, just about any relationship starts with a small dose of trust.
Why does this matter so much for teams?
No matter how strong communication is on your team, or how well you all treat each other, the relationship will only reach full openness once the trust between you has been developed.
The book “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” lays out the 5 dysfunctions that affect teams the most:
Image source: leitorrealista.blogspot.com
Notice the resemblance to Maslow’s pyramid. At the base sits the most serious dysfunction: the absence of trust. Without trust, there will be no healthy debate, no commitment, no accountability, and no attention to results. The absence of trust shakes the rest of the pyramid and opens the door to any of the other 4 dysfunctions. And I’m sure you don’t want your team suffering from that, which brings us to the next topic.
How to build trust in your team
First, let’s define trust:
“Credibility or a positive view held about someone or something; credit, security.” (Michaelis dictionary)
Pay attention to the word “security” in the definition. It’s not there by accident. When you trust someone, you gain the security to be yourself. You feel free to open up and to bring your vulnerabilities to the surface.
At this point, it’s worth noticing how closely tied trust and vulnerability are. For the members of a team to trust one another, you, as the leader, need to foster a culture that doesn’t punish vulnerability. In other words, trust is the product of a culture mature enough not to penalize weaknesses or requests for help. Trust is always a result, never a goal.
So, to keep your team from suffering the most serious dysfunction, the one that stops everything else from growing, the way forward is to create an environment that allows vulnerability to show. Here are some signs to help you tell whether your team’s (and company’s) culture is on the right track:
If you notice your team shows many of the signs of a culture with no room for vulnerability, it’s time to act. Don’t let that kind of behavior spread, and address it as soon as you see it happen. One bad fruit can spoil an entire harvest.
Finally, always remember that wherever a group of people gathers, a culture will be born, whether you want it or not. Since it’s going to be born either way, why not steer it toward something good?