Building Trust in Teams

“Trust arrives on foot but leaves on horseback” Dutch proverb

I watched an interview many years ago where Simon Sinek was being asked about trust.? He used the analogy of the way that trust develops in an intimate relationship.? He said that trust evolves, and it is hard to pinpoint the time when each person in the relationship knows that they trust each other.? It is rarely one defining moment, but rather a series of moments and passages of time where the feeling of trust builds.?

I think that this can also apply to professional relationships be it with colleagues, our leaders and members of our team.?

Trust is intangible.? Often a feeling, a sense of trusting or not trusting.? We often use our intuition to help us decipher whether we trust someone or not.? This can also be applied to groups.? Do we trust that team, that department, that organisation??? There will be a series of moments where our trust was confirmed by what was said and done or rather diminished, again based on actions demonstrated or not demonstrated.

The oxford dictionary?(Oxford Languages 2022) defines trust as:

noun

1. ?

firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something.

?

Let’s break this down.? We are looking at reliability, truth, ability, or competency in someone or something.? We could even use credibility as a synonym.? Substance also features here, something we can rely upon to help us feel there is something tangible that we can trust.

Trust and performance

We don’t create trust in teams, so we all feel good. Even though we do as a result of focusing on trust.? Trust could be perceived as a fertilizer for the performance of the team.? Building trust overtime, without pouring an entire bottle all over the plant hoping it will miraculously thrive is a sound strategy.? Real trust develops at a pace appropriate to the team.? Strong leadership and team performance in a crisis which comes and goes quickly can hot-house trust nicely, however, it won’t necessarily be felt at the time, especially if you’re dealing with the heat of a crisis.

In his book, Trust Factor, Paul Zak talks about how a culture of trust generates powerful leverage on organisational performance.?(Zak 2017)?

Let’s take two factors, trust and performance.? Most leaders will be interested in creating high trust and high performance.? In The Five Dysfunctions of a Team?(Lencioni 2002), Patrick Lencioni tells the story of a CEO who is uncovering the barriers to great team performance through the lens of dysfunctional behaviors.? I like to flip these five dysfunctions and think about them in the context of the five functions of a high-performing team.? At the base of Lencioni’s model is, the absence of trust, or rather, in my flipped view, a successful high-performing team needs to have trust.? This is at the core of the team.? Without all other functions, a high-performing team is sabotaged.? A team can’t productively debate and even discuss issues if it does not have a thick layer of trust as its foundation.? Without trust and the ability to productively discuss issues, it cannot commit to shared goals and actions.? Without trust, the ability to productively discuss issues, and a lack of commitment to shared goals and actions, there will be an avoidance of accountability.??? Without trust, the ability to productively discuss issues a lack of commitment to shared goals and actions, and the avoidance of accountability there will be an inattention to results.? (Lencioni 2002)

Trust provides the environment for effective teamwork and high performance.? When we focus on increasing trust, we create an engaged and connected team that is fuelled by an appropriate amount of pressure.? I will go further and state that trust is the absolute critical foundation of any great team. I encourage you to think of a high-performing team that you have been a part of or observed that has not had trust as the foundational element.? If you have thought of one, reach out, I would be so keen to have a chat about what makes this team great!????

Trust fuels performance.? As we build trust, we can drive higher performance.? Let me explain using the model below.

When we have high performance and high trust, we have connected and engaged teams.? When we have low performance and low trust we have disconnected and disengaged teams.? However, when we have low trust but an expectation and delivery of high performance, we are likely to have stress and high pressure.??? Here we need to be mindful of the factors driving the behavior.? There might be issues around the presence or absence of psychological safety and the risk of burnout.? When we have low performance and high trust, we may find that our teams experience boredom because of low pressure expectations.? They have high trust that we will do our job, and therefore the performance pressure eases off.??

As leaders, our goal is to achieve high trust and high performance for the sake of our teams and the broader organisation.?

?

Rita Cincotta coaches, facilitates and speaks on individual and team performance, leadership development and ways of working. She works with organisations to develop human centred solutions that help people and businesses to thrive.

To learn more and access free leadership resources, head over to: https://ritacincotta.com/elevate-your-leadership-impact/

?