What are some effective ways to build trust and rapport with your team members?

Based on Lencioni’s “Five Dysfunctions of a Team,” here is my action plan: 1. Lack of Trust: Foster a space where everyone can openly share. Action: Engage in trust-building activities regularly. 2. Fear of Conflict: Encourage and appreciate healthy debates. Action: Implement rules for respectful disagreements. 3. Lack of Commitment: Ensure all team members are aligned with decisions. Action: Communicate decisions and rationales clearly. 4. Avoidance of Accountability: Promote responsibility among team members. Action: Establish and enforce clear expectations and standards. 5. Inattention to Results: Prioritize the success of the team over individuals. Action: Celebrate collective wins and learn from losses together.

Everyone wants to be understood, so an effective way to build trust and rapport is to not only seek to understand team members within the perimeters of their work life, but also extending our efforts to understand them outside of their professional lives. Engage with colleagues on interests other than projects, timelines and tasks. Seek opportunities to compliment them on their accomplishments being achieved outside of the work environment. Building rapport goes far beyond getting along with your team members. It also involves showing that you are invested in them for not only what they can contribute in their position; but you are also invested in them as a whole person, whom you’re spending the majority of your week interacting with.

This is THE Core book on trust and team building - and should be read by all leaders annually. Teach members how to engage in healthy conflict. Break up the silos, and have all debates and conflict be for the good of the company overall and it's core values.

Non-compliance. Proprietary, exclusive business practices. Male dominance in the majority of board rooms and executive suites. Lack of credentials other than quarterly profits. Lack of respect of early career professionals who know more than the rich and the powerful who control the bully pulpit and the purse strings. On 60 minutes tonight, I heard the father of AI talk about his fears that AI will be smarter than the men who created it. He is right. But AI will never be smarter than a woman...so watch out. That cute little robot that can play soccer and whistle Dixie at the same time cannot give birth or nurse a baby. Forget AI and block chain inventory control...you have invested in a system of production and reward that is obsolete.

In my experience, Active Listening is the single most desired habit leaders need to adapt and encourage in their teams. The fifth chapter in the book, "Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood (Active Listening)": Building strong relationships requires leaders to genuinely listen to their team members' perspectives before expressing their own. This habit nurtures empathy, respect, and effective communication.

Charlie Tremendous Jones put it best when he said, “You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.” In order to truly grow as a leader, you have to grow as an individual and what better way to do that than to focus on your daily habits. True leadership isn’t leadership because you were given a title. True leadership is about service to others and your ability to influence others. And the best way to take charge of growing into the person who leads others well is to be proactive about leading yourself (in your daily actions) well.

The great thing about challenges are that they are designed to promote action. And while reading books is great, the action you take on the knowledge presented in books is even better. And since I believe that the core of transformative leadership is service to others and one’s ability to influence others, I can see just how the five principles presented would lead to exemplary leadership. People don’t want to just be told what to do, they want someone who will show them what to do in a compassionate and empathetic way. The best leaders cast vision for others to grab on to and foster a space for others to develop and grow into a better version of themselves. The best leaders aren’t threatened by the people that follow. They develop leaders.

Radical Candor revolutionized the way I communicated with a past manager and how I could share my experience in a professional way. It is not easy to practice Radical Candor in every moment, but when your team has this as a communication tool, you can understand what is missing. As a manager, it is not about practicing one or the other. It means you balance the two and you intentionally engage with both. It is pushing yourself to see the human and help them take steps. Even if you are afraid, we take action my helping the person feel seen for who they are and providing thoughtful opposition to help them grow.

These concepts hit home when an employee admitted he was no longer inspired to invest his energy at work. It was a fragile moment for the employee whose facial expressions showed the pain of lacking pride in your own work. He stated he was nothing more than “another spoke in the wheel” and did not feel he was making an impact. After explaining why his work was valuable, to whom his work mattered, and how he was accomplishing the mission to make a direct impact on others, he smiled with tears in his eyes. He thanked me for taking the time to speak with him and left with a renewed sense of purpose. We both did. When people are safe to share their feelings, leaders have the opportunity to tap into a deep sense of purpose.

Sometimes all you need to build trust and rapport is to remember that you as a leader and others are perfectly imperfect humans. We strive yet make mistakes and that should be ok. Be yourself/authentic. You do not need to put on a "show". Getting to know your employees on a personal level beyond the how are you - I'm busy response and understanding who they are as person is the best investment you will make in building trust. Humans crave connection and finding commonality is as important as honouring differences to inspire and influence. Notice who you give your empathy to and then diversify that to build deep trust.