The most important quality in teaming isn’t what you think. It’s this.

Trust is a cornerstone of American society, but in many ways, we're seeing that trust erode like never before. And the business world is not immune.

In fact, EY’s most recent Global Workforce study found that fewer than half of respondents have “a great deal of trust” in their current employers, bosses or colleagues. Similarly, the 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer reported that nearly 7 in 10 people surveyed said building trust should be the number one job for CEOs.

The business case for trust

Stephen Covey, in his book The Speed of Trust, asserts that low trust will almost always derail a good business strategy because trust always affects two outcomes — speed and cost. When trust goes down, speed goes down and cost goes up. And the converse is always true as well. Market shifts and business disruption in today’s world demands the speed of trust.

One the most challenging yet rewarding experiences of my career allowed me to experience the speed of trust in a very real way.

One of our clients was in the middle of a majorly disruptive market shift. They had to move fast, which is difficult in an organization gripped by fear of the unknown. I joined a client/EY team that traveled the globe listening to customers and professionals to understand issues and to consider strategic options. Our approach of listening first and being inclusive as we co-designed strategic scenarios extended trust and was critical to getting the cooperation needed to get to a recommendation for the board.

Despite what was a very volatile environment and a high-pressure situation, our team facilitated agreement on a set of hard, strategic redirections. The speed of trust is what allowed our client to succeed in their “good to great” moment.

The leadership case for trust

For leaders, trust must run parallel to purpose.

I had the good fortune of learning this firsthand when I was a young partner at EY. Our board formed a “tiger team,” led by a senior partner who also happens to be named Bob. The team was charged with penetrating a new market and building a new business. Bob inspired all of us to tackle this challenge with purpose and passion. Instead of focusing on our bottom line or performance metrics, we were encouraged to be creative and driven, and to think outside the box. We worked incredibly hard, but we had an absolute blast doing it. Bob trusted each of us, empowered each of us, and the result was that we built a $300m business in just two years. Now that is an example of the speed of trust!

Give trust. Get trust.

The key to building trust is to understand that it’s reciprocal — the best way to build trust is to extend it. Leaders who extend trust become mentors and models for their teammates. Companies that extend trust become great places to work, enticing the purpose-driven future workforce.

At a recent EY leadership meeting, Kelly Grier, our US Chairman and Managing Partner and Americas Managing Partner, interviewed Simon Sinek, the well-known author and speaker on topics like purpose and inspiration. During their discussion, Simon challenged a room of EY leaders to extend trust to our thousands of professionals. Over 70% of the EY workforce is made up of millennials who are, without a doubt, motivated by our purpose to build a better working world, and who want to be empowered to link their personal passions to the work their teams are doing for our clients. I personally love watching the dynamics when a senior leader from one of our clients is most riveted by the creative solutions offered by one of the youngest professionals on our team.

By building trust on teams, evaluating not only traditional performance metrics but encouraging teammates to be creative and take risks, we will build an environment that not only inspires and motivates but ultimately achieves the best results. Trust me on that.