5 Characteristics Of High-Trust Teams

Have you ever led or been part of a team with extraordinary talent, but the team members failed to work together effectively? The results for these teams rarely match their talent level because a team's ability to build trusting relationships is equally, if not more important, than the team's technical abilities. Establishing a foundation of trust is the key to a team’s success. In his HBR article, The Neuroscience of Trust, Paul Zak shared the following research on the importance of trust within organizations.

Compared with people at low-trust companies, people at high-trust companies report 74% less stress, 106% more energy at work, 50% higher productivity, 76% more engagement, 29% more satisfaction with their lives, and 40% less burnout.

In today's world of remote work, rapid change, and uncertainty, teams must take deliberate actions to develop trust amongst their members. Below are?5 Characteristics of High-Trust Teams that enable team members to feel valued, heard, and capable of doing their best work.

1) Team Members Feel Valued And Heard

Empathy is "the ability to understand and share the feelings of another." Research repeatedly shows that empathy is essential for team members to exhibit emotional intelligence, design thinking, high performance, effective teamwork, healthy relationships, and clear communication. The primary way that team members demonstrate empathy is by asking quality questions and listening to one another.

An inclusive team environment that invites equal voice and values all member's perspectives does not happen by accident. A 2017 Gallup poll found that only three in 10 employees strongly agree with the statement that their opinions count at work. Below are best practices for how teams can effectively create opportunities for all members to have equal opportunities to share their ideas, experiences, and perspectives.

• Establish an inclusive, simple and replicable process for when it is time for the team to work together to resolve issues and solve problems
• Clarify that the team is about to work through an issue, and it requires everyone's input
• Provide think time for everyone to document their perspectives before sharing

2) Clear Goals and Roles

In his research on team conflict at General Electric, Noel Tichy, professor of management at the University of Michigan, found that unclear or misaligned goals and roles cause more than 90% of team conflict. Workplace conflict is often interpreted as an interpersonal issue, but the root cause is usually because of misaligned or unclear goals and roles. People typically blame conflicts on others' character flaws and judge them as unreasonable, ineffective, lazy, not caring, dishonest, or some other negative conclusion that can quickly erode team and organizational trust.

Taking the time to ensure clarity and alignment of goals and roles is critical in building trust within teams. Without this foundation, trust will always be a systemic issue.?

3) Establish Accountability

Unfortunately, many people perceive the concepts of trust and accountability are at odds with one another. Accountability often gets a bad reputation because team members are concerned that others will judge them unfairly if they fall short of expectations.?The best teams understand that accountability is about empowerment – not control.

The truth is that establishing a culture of accountability is the foundation for teams that have high-performance and trusting relationships.?Have you ever worked on a team that lacked accountability??If the answer is yes,?you probably experienced some of the following repercussions:

• Missed deadlines
• Team members who blame others
• Low-performance levels
• Ongoing team conflict

Accountability is necessary for team members to have high levels of trust and performance. Accountability builds team trust by enabling clear expectations, an environment where team members deliver on commitments, and a sense of accomplishment through delivering on goals.?

4) Address Bad Behaviors Of High-Performers

Leaders that do not address a star employee's bad behaviors demonstrate to the team that results are more important than their values, relationships, and ethics. Research shows that the more valuable an employee's work is to the organization, the more likely leaders and co-workers are to overlook questionable behavior. The problem is that leaders usually don't see the "hidden" damage these negative behaviors have on their team's culture. The Harvard Business Review shares in its article, How Toxic Colleagues Erode Performance, the following research on the negative impact of tolerating toxic employees.

• 80% of employees stated they lost work time because of the offending employees' rudeness
• 78% said their commitment to the organization declined
• 66% said their performance declined
• 63% lost work time in avoiding the offender

For a team to build a culture of trust, it must be clear that how the work gets done is just as important as completing the task.

5) Invest In Relationship Building

Focusing solely on tasks can work for short periods of time, but over the long haul, these behaviors deteriorate a team's social bonds. The ability to build team relationships is now more difficult because so much of our work and meetings are virtual. This isolation is problematic, as a solid social support system is essential in creating resilient and productive teams.

Teams must invest in building their social networks, especially during times of challenge, change, and high demands. Below are some ideas for how teams can establish strong relationships.

• Celebrate wins?
• Share gratitude and appreciation
• Time for fun and laughter
• Ongoing assessment of psychological safety and feelings of belonging

Conclusion

Trust is created when team members demonstrate care and respect for one another's feelings and value all members' perspectives.?More than ever, organizations need high-performing teams to produce results and build strong relationships. Clear measures, processes, and actions that support team members in establishing and maintaining trust are essential for developing high-performing teams.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

I am the President and Founder of ClearView Leadership, an innovative leadership and talent development consulting firm helping executives and managers bring their best leadership selves to their most challenging situations. I am the author of,?Getting It Right When It Matters Most: Self-Leadership For Work & Life. You can also follow me on?Forbes?to see my latest articles on Self-Leadership and Leading Others.