…and does your team trust you?
In a previous post, I shared that creating great teams is about engaging team members’ hearts and heads. One characteristic of leaders who do this particularly well is the ability to build and maintain trusting relationships. There are hard economic benefits; organizations that report a high degree of trust between team leaders and team members outperform the average annualized returns of the S&P 500 by a factor of three. And there are also softer dividends too. Voluntary turnover is 50% lower at companies that develop trusting relationships between colleagues.
In their seminal work, Speed of Trust, Covey and Merrill describe various types of trust, two of which are particularly relevant to teams. The first is self-trust, which the authors equate with credibility. Credibility is an important outcome, but my belief is that it’s predicated on self-respect, confidence and a sense of higher purpose. The second type is relationship trust, which stems from consistent behavior. Be kind. Stay positive. Do your work. Help out. Put the team’s needs ahead of your own. Self and relationship trust are deeply connected. Without the former, the latter is impossible, but a strong sense of self-trust doesn’t mean others will hold you in the same esteem you hold yourself. The good news is that building trust at both levels is possible with intention, work and – most importantly – an openness to learning.
Why does your existence matter? What value do you have to contribute to the world? These questions may seem more applicable to a philosophy class than to your role as a team leader. However, it’s important to reflect on them, and to be able to authentically answer them in order to establish the trust in yourself necessary to lead thriving teams. The truth is that everyone has gifts to share that will benefit ourselves and those around us. Building self-trust demands sharpening your understanding of the nature of those gifts – and also your limitations. Make no mistake – the act of exploring and ultimately embracing your strengths and weaknesses is one of bravery. It shatters the conventional, albeit flawed, image of leaders sitting high on pedestals of all-knowingness. By committing to building self-awareness and embracing what you do well and less well, you create the space necessary to cultivate trusting relationships with others that complement you without fear of being outshined.
Relationship trust emerges from behavioral patterns and, in that sense, it’s earned over time. When people continuously treat each other with care and empathy, they create a virtuous circle, breeding more and more positive behaviors, stimulating more and more trust. So, the most powerful thing leaders can do to facilitate trusting relationships is modeling high-trust interactions. For example, ask questions instead of giving directions. Even when you know the answers, ask team members what they think. Take their answers seriously regardless of their seniority and think about them with an open mind. One of my clients takes it a step further by granting what he calls “permission to act” – all team members are empowered to contribute to the team’s success without seeking his approval. Leading teams in this way demands three things: shared values, alignment around what Dr. John Kotter refers to as a Big Opportunity and a sense of confidence in team members’ talent, intentions and judgment.
Building trusting relationships on your team is easy in principle, but much more challenging in practice. To get going, try these modest steps forward:
- First, check in with yourself. Are you clear about who you are, what you stand for and what your strengths and opportunities are?
- Then, get some feedback from your colleagues. How do they perceive the way you’re supporting them? What’s their level of clarity around the opportunity your team is pursuing? In what ways might you empower them to contribute at even higher levels?
- Finally, commit to one or two actions that you can take individually and encourage collectively to build the trust necessary for your team to thrive.
