What are some trust-building activities for a team in crisis?

Bring the team together and invite each team member to share a story about a previous crisis they’ve been through. - Share the strengths and strategies they used to overcome the crisis. - Share the lessons they learned from the situation, - Reflect on what they would do differently having been through that situation. - Looking back, share what the gifts or opportunities that emerged from the crisis. This exercise will increase trust and connectedness through the vulnerability of the shares, remind the team how resilient they are given what they’ve endured in the past, and illuminate ideas and perspectives for how to apply what has been shared to navigate the current crisis.

How we share our own stories to connect and build relationships is super important - especially in moments of challenge. Try considering: - Testing out what you’re trying to share with someone who will give you constructive feedback. It might be that you think your story is one that will lead to connection, but it could feel different to others. - Ensure the story you’re sharing has point that’s useful to the team. Stories with no direct impact on the team may feel to some as self-indulgent. - What medium are you sharing your story? Different people communicate in different ways so that can - in itself - impact relationships.

Being together, avoiding blaming culture, being solution-oriented, and building a system based on the crisis situation and available resources. encourage and motivate team members positively, heck their duties and overtime. keep monitoring and reporting all challenges and ask for support from the higher management if they could support by providing resources.

From my experience Building trust within a team during a crisis is crucial for effective collaboration and problem-solving. Collaboratively work on solving the crisis as a team. Brainstorm solutions and involve everyone in the decision-making process. Have team members switch roles or responsibilities temporarily to gain a better understanding of each other's roles and challenges. Engage in team-building exercises or games that require collaboration and problem-solving, which can strengthen trust. Have team members share their strengths and weaknesses with the group. This promotes understanding and helps in task delegation.

I believe a great team building exercise could be getting to know your teammates by using the Kahoot app. You can create a personalized multiplayer game with the team. Ask each player to contribute 5-10 fun facts about themselves. This will help build trust and it’s a whole lot of fun ??

The models mentioned above are valuable as they steer you away from criticism and complaint, both having a negative effect on the relationship. Also successful is the use of a reflective tone where you query the other's perspective before sharing yours.

Another way to build trust is to give and receive feedback with your team members. Feedback is a powerful tool for learning, improvement, and growth. However, feedback can also be a source of tension, resentment, and defensiveness if not delivered or received well. To avoid these pitfalls, you can use the SBI model: Situation, Behavior, Impact. This model helps you focus on specific, observable, and factual behaviors and their consequences, rather than on personality, assumptions, or judgments. You can also use the EEC model: Evidence, Effect, Change. This model helps you provide concrete examples, explain the positive or negative effects, and suggest or request changes for the future.

In a crisis, some of the usual rules of engagement go out the window. You should still operate with kindness and respect but tough times will call for being more direct with your team.

I'm a huge fan of play and games for catalyzing communication and camaraderie (I also love alliteration)---BUT if the trust isn't there then finding the play might be impossible. If the team is genuinely in crisis, a game might be 'too soon.' Genuine check-ins and actions that demonstrate care and clear communication might lay the foundation for fun down the road.

In play, you relax, are authentic and the game is the background. Play benefits you as well as the team members you want to inspire. If the play environment is supportive team members develop confidence as winning and losing becomes less important than the play itself.

One way I have applied this professionally with my team was to do a scavenger hunt where the team had to work together, listen to music, and they had to guess the year and artist. I have also done an escape room; these are fun to do as a team because it will take the team to brainstorm together and figure out how they will get out of the room together and in one piece. The escape room was one of my favorites because it builds communication skills, relationship building, and self-esteem.

Two most important things to consider here: 1 - If you want to make a correction or criticize the work of any of your team members, make sure that it should remain between you two. 2 - If want to appreciate any one of your team members, make sure that you do that in front of a whole team. In this way he/she would be more encouraged and would go extra mile next time.

Celebrating team successes is great but in my experience, it’s crucial to keep it authentic. Overdoing or insincere celebrations can be counterproductive. Equally important is addressing and learning from any setbacks. A balanced approach in recognizing both achievements and challenges ensures genuine trust-building.

Especially during a crisis, it's crucial that you celebrate both the collective and individual success of your team. People need to feel as if the tough times are worth it and be reminded of the good, despite the bad. Depending on how intense the crisis is it could go a long way to simply recognize and celebrate someone for continuing to show up every day even though it's hard.

Celebration and ceremony inspire your team to pause and reflect positively on their progress. They lift team members out of the ordinary routines and emphasize their value and accomplishment. A good leader sees these events as opportunities.

I've followed very closely the expectation setting noted here. I do it every time I have a new team, a new direct report and I document it. The documentation is critical in my view, as you can then continue to use it as a reference and reset point. There will be times you veer off track as well as your team, so equally as critical to setting expectations is continually maintaining them and recognizing when you are not. I've never had a bad experience in this methodology. It's when expectations are unclear or ambiguous that I've had the most challenges as a leader.

Without clear expectations regarding your team’s efforts are unfocussed and you lose the advantage of individual skills in harmony.

Review and reflect is a great way to build trust in a team. It also serves to set the expectation of what good looks like and it can be done in a fun way. For example, we once did awards to the biggest fails in the team, and included examples that made us all laugh out loud. Worst call, worst prospect response, worst email sent. It can be an opportunity for team bonding and having a good time, while reflecting on what the team can do better!

When this step is implemented regularly, the team becomes more grounded in an accurate perspective about their contribution to the overall goal of the organization.

Trust Building during crisis, is not a challenge rather an opportunity to win the trust back. Crisis is an important moment when everybody is singularly focused on common goals. To build the trust it's important to take responsibility, have empathy, and work as team. Covering colleagues blind spots, weakness and delivering on your strengths. Being available around crisis for the team, to show up irrespective of situation will build the trust. Bringing transparency for teams during stakeholder communication would further strengthen the understanding as team speaks the same language and same priorities. Acknowledge the great work to resolve crisis don't wait for the end result, contribution of each member each action during crisis.

Trust-building is an ongoing process and may take time, especially in the midst of a crisis (individual or company-wide). You will always here me advocate for prevention and the best way to prevent holes in the integrity sphere during a crisis is by building and maintaining trust weekly. Be vulnerable weekly, show gratitude weekly, games or group meditation weekly. This way when crisis arises, there isn't a scatter just a how can I help you. At that point, someone in charge that has the crises plan can communicate it and lead; because trust was never broken, the team can pull the raft.

Establishing a psychological safe culture is vital for high performing teams & not just in times of crisis. Feeling safe to share ideas, concerns, & take risks without repercussions. -Open, non-judgmental communication: Welcome all ideas & respect everyone. -Embrace vulnerability. Acknowledge mistakes & uncertainties. -Set team norms. Include active listening, avoiding blame, & focusing on solutions. -Show empathy & support. -Clear goals & roles during crises. -Schedule regular check-ins to share updates & address concerns. -Encourage continuous learning for growth & resilience. -Recognize & celebrate all efforts, big & small. -Create feedback loops for input on processes. -Transparency is necessary to avoid surprises & rumors.

In my Experience, a 360 feedback allows team members to provide feedback to each other on their strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement. This can help team members to better understand each other's perspectives and to build trust. There are many different team building exercises that you can do to build trust and cohesion. Taking the time to socialize with your team outside of work can help to build relationships and trust. By focusing on trust-building activities, you can help your team to weather the storm of a crisis and emerge stronger than ever.