HowDoYouBuildTrust

A reader sent me this email after reading my article "The Secret Ingredients of High Morale."

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"I very much agree with the items listed in your article. I would also like to suggest on glaring omission. Development of interpersonal trust relationships between the team members and with management!"

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"The building of trust within the crew, for the crew to believe that the management is truly looking out for the safety and support of the crew, that the crew members are truly looking out for the safely of each other, pays dividends that only help the short, middle and long term satisfaction of all concerned. The fallacy of short term profits only belies the issue of no history of trust to begin with."
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How do you build trust on teams?

What actions have you observed or experienced that destroy trust?

EstherDerby

Making nuanced promises

Visibility and clarity are key to building and maintaining trust. Fuzziness undermines it, particularly when the fuzziness appears intended. Both leader and crew can err here. -- MikeMelendez 2004.05.18

What actions have you observed or experienced that destroy trust?
I'll start with the easier quesiton. Destroy is a little too strong of a word for me so my comments are about things that either cause me to question or lose my trust in someone.

Hearing you blame your teammates for bad result while noticing your refusal to accept any responsibility
Hearing you say over and over, "What's in it for me?"
Hearing you say all the right things but knowing that you won't follow through on what you said
Noticing that you can't manage either your personal or business finances
Noticing that you have a substance abuse problem

How do you build trust on teams?

I work on being congruent. It's sometimes hard for me. But it's always worth the effort.
Arrive on schedule
Finish on schedule
Lead by example
Create a collaborative structure and environment
I don't talk about trusting me

SteveSmith 2004.05.18

Steve, "trust me" seems to be one of those tip off phrases.

I worked at a company where the top managers stated there would be no layoffs and a month later laid people off. Didn't help the level of trust. The rationale was that people would worry and not work hard if they thought there was going to be a layoff. I think suspect that trust, morale, and productivity were damaged more and for a longer time because of the dishonesty.

Esther 2004.05.20

I've found that respecting others' concerns helps build trust.

DaveSmith 2004.05.22

I have had several opportunities to get projects started and often the issue of trust is there (explicitly or implicitly). When I do ask for leeway or trust, I write it down in a visible area (a parking lot) and ask for people to keep me honest. It often works.

Another thing that seems to work is to find (have?) common interests. Dogs, photography and bowling have seemed to be common themes with my current client.

BrettSchuchert 2004.05.22

Seems to me the most important thing you have to do to build trust is to be trustworthy. That doesn't mean you have to do everything you're tasked to do (by yourself or promises to others), but it does mean that you let others know as soon as you know you can't do everything.

That way, people come to trust that you won't, at least, surprise them by your behavior, and that your intentions are honest. But, if trust has been lost (either in you or in some class of people to which you belong (like managers), it takes a long time to build back up, so you have to be patient. - JerryWeinberg 2004.05.23

For me, part of being trustworthy is being consistent. Consistency doesn't have to be in actions; it can also be thought-consistency. For example, if you always look for the fastest way to complete a project, you can change the project's practices if you're clear to the project staff why you're changing the practices. "You know how we always want to finish quickly? I think this practice will help. Let's try it." -- JohannaRothman 2004.06.01

I do a lot of work with teams that are geographically spread out. Over the last few years, I've worked with people fairly closely for months before meeting them in person. I find it can be especially hard to build trust long-distance until we actually meet.

And even then the trust level tends to diminish again when we're no longer co-located.

I've experienced many efforts to build teams via conference calls, and it doesn't seem to work. For some crazy reason, many people can't read body language and facial expressions over the phone line.

StuartScott 2004.06.23

I recently read a useful book entitled "The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team" by Patrick Lencioni. I'll share his ideas here on building trust.

1) shared experiences over time
2) multiple instances of follow-through and credibility
3) in-depth understanding of unique attributes of team members
4) a leader that demonstrates vulnerability
5) a leader that does not punish vulnerabilities

To understand...read the book.

DaveRabinek 2004.06.23

Great reference, Dave. thanks.

Stuart, we have an article on the AYE website written by JohnSuzuki about working with remote teams. Many people have found it helpful. - JerryWeinberg 2004.06.27

Updated: Sunday, June 27, 2004