Here's how you can foster trust with your team as a self-employed professional.

In order to foster trust within your team: a) First you need to build the rapport with your team members. For that you need to spend time with your team, share your vision so that your team members feel comfortable to share their thoughts and you became their go-to person. b) Clear Communication is necessary to set up the goals, the expectations you have from each one of them, so that they are clear on what to do and thus increase the trust and effectiveness on their job. c) Giving due credit to all team members and celebrating the success is very important to build trust. Similarly address the issues within the team and get that sorted without involving others is key to build trust as well.

Sharing, what has always worked for me: 1. I take a genuine interest in my team members, listen to their problems - not just work related, but personal problems too. 2. I believe in a friendly environment, which encourages feedback and collaboration. 3. I am always available and approachable, what I believe is that my team comes first - then my customers, as if my team is happy - they will ensure the customers are happy. 4. Most important is lead by example: if someone has to stretch for a difficult deadline, i ensure I stay on - it's inculcating a feeling of co-ownership.

The most important thing is to engage regularly with your team to show your interest in their well-being and communicate clearly and consistently to ensure everyone understands their roles and responsibilities. Show empathy by listening to concerns, understand their feelings, and offering support when needed. Be transparent about your intentions and decisions, and always follow through on your promises. I believe by doing this you can earn trust among your team.

To foster trust within your team, start by building rapport. Rapport is the mutual understanding and harmony that facilitates smoother and more effective communication. Take the time to learn about your team members' interests, strengths, and work preferences. This personal attention demonstrates that you value them not just as employees, but as individuals. When your team feels seen and understood, they are more likely to open up, share ideas, and trust your leadership. Ultimately, a foundation of trust leads to a more engaged and collaborative work environment, driving success for everyone involved.

From my experience, especially when team members ask for leaves during critical delivery, I ensure they get leaves but I also make them realise the need of delivering on time so that we meet our targets. On realising this, team members ensure they create proper back ups or pre-deliver tasks before they proceed for leave.

I am a strong believer in empowering others, what I strongly feel is that, if you have a team in place - let them do things, make mistakes and learn: My seven step approach: 1. Clearly delegating authority and Responsibility 2. Limiting myself to proving resources and support 3. Encouraging ideas and clear communication 4. Setting and defining my success criteria - expectations and goals. 5. Encouraging innovation and motivating risk-taking and experiments with controlled environment 6. Recognizing and appreciating contributions and success. 7. Creating a culture of team collaboration.

I ensure the delivery of the project and its rewards is equally communicated to all teams. I leverage internal organisation rewards like gems points are distributed to each team member appreciating their efforts and keeping them motivated I ensure I loop my managers so that each team member gains visibility to upper hierarchy which is very important for career growth ??

What i found most effective was recognizing the smallest of achievements… that really drives overall collborative atmosphere. And everything else naturally comes after that. Better communication , better work environment and just a more inclusive workspace.