TRUST IN TEAMS. A BOOK CHAPTER I WROTE.
I've published my chapter Trust in Teams from the e-book Leadershift Essentials: from surviving to thriving here, so you can have a squizz at what you're in for when you purchase the whole shebang from Amazon. Chapter two, Sexy Ethics by Kendra Strudwick is one of my faves.The book is designed to apply a brain-friendly approach to leading yourself and others, as well as increasing the depth of trust in your working relationships and teams. It is jam-packed with so many great, honest accounts and ideas from some stunning coaches. Well worth the read!So without any further ado, here is my chapter:
Trust in Teams
Organisations are complex things. Loads of dynamics, tons of individual brain styles, and a heap of stakeholders. Siloed teams and over collaboration are challenges at two different ends of the spectrum. Add the VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) world that we operate in and it all gets a bit overwhelming. The potential is to be sucked into a vortex of coping, with an ever-extending snorkel keeping you above water. And that’s just your own performance. Worrying about what your team is up to as well is just a distraction and complete waste of energy.The beauty of a team is the contribution made by individuals, that together as a group, can successfully master tasks and achieve goals far beyond their singular reach. At the base of success for teams is trust.Having a foundation of trust is a beautiful thing. It frees teams to be committed and to communicate. From there, performance, engagement and results follow the flow to the natural pinnacle of success. A culture of trust is the absolute foundation.Compared with people in low-trust companies, people in high-trust companies report:
74% less stress
106% more energy at work
50% higher productivity
13% fewer sick days
76% more engagement
29% more satisfaction with their lives
76% less burnout
What’s happening upstairs
Trust is a chemical reaction that happens in the tool between the ears. fRMI studies of the brain at a neurological level also show that it is a cross cultural phenomenon and the same for humans all over the world.Simply put, for any action or event that engenders trust, the brain squirts out a hit of the hormone oxytocin. The study of neuroplasticity says that we rewire our brains to adapt to what’s going on to build maximum brain functionality. The more oxytocin we use, the more we produce. It’s a supply and demand chain reaction. Cultivating and harnessing trust happens at a basic human level, and what starts between the ears, flows to the whole body. Which explains the warm fuzzies!Oxytocin combines beautifully with dopamine (the hit you get from positive recognition) and serotonin (which kicks in when you feel significant or important). When these happen we’re more open to new ways of thinking, better prepared to think strategically and to assess risks. All are attributes linked to lifting performance and getting results.Cortisol (the stress hormone) is an inhibitor of oxytocin. We often see how ‘stressed out’ people struggle with relationships and trust. Or when we’re feeling stressed we may get triggered easily, with the resulting over-reaction or volatile outburst leaving us bruised and battered. On the other hand, an element of challenge is needed for us to find our sweet spot for peak performance. It's the steady drip drip drip of anxiety, or feelings of panic that will undermine trust. In a high trust environment, the production of oxytocin is a powerful insurance against stress, anxiety and burnout.
The web of trust
The adage of trust being a two-way street is just too linear for the way trust relates in a team and within organisations. Reciprocal trust is necessary, absolutely. And trust in a team is a web woven to allow for multi-faceted support and growth. Just like any web, a breakdown in any of these is an area of weakness. The other strands may support it while times are good. And in times of struggle, that's where there’ll be stress, resulting in breakage.While there’s a heap of complexity, we can box trust into some key relationships. It’s a good way to look at and evaluate the web of trust in your team. Is it robust, or are there areas of weakness that you need to pay attention to?Below is a list of things that are heard in high trust environments in each of the five levels (from conversations, 360 reviews and employee engagement surveys).
Between individuals
‘I’ve got your back, and I know you’ve got mine.’‘We’re in this together.’
Within the team
‘I know I’m supported here.’‘We use our diversity.’‘We’re stronger together.’‘We have the multiplication factor.’‘We’re really good at disagreeing with each other.’‘I love these guys! We’re loyal!’
Trust in the leadership
‘She knows what’s really going on for us.’‘We know he’s not looking for glory for himself, he’s after it for the team.’‘We know that we’re well represented.’‘Our leadership consider us in their decision making. They understand what it’s like to do our jobs.’‘My boss listens to me.’
At an organisational level
‘This company believes in us.’‘This is a place we can shine.’‘We know that what we do makes a difference.’‘We believe in and live by our company values.’‘We know and understand what this company is about, what our goals are and where we’re heading.’‘We know where we fit in.’‘We notice that the other teams here are in the same boat, we help each other out.’
The ecology of trust - the big picture
‘I feel good about what we’re doing in the world.’‘I respect what this company does. We’re making a positive impact.’‘I’m proud to be part of this.’
How to lead for trust
Take a moment to consider the term ‘leader’. It may be a job title you have or a formalised role. That said, the concept of leadership is far broader than a pay grade.As an example, U.S. Navy SEAL Team 6 use the non-hierarchical concept that the person who knows what to do next, becomes the leader. In a combat environment where a split-second reaction can be the difference between a successful mission or an infamous international incident, leadership is fluid, automatic and defined by the situation.In business, the opportunity to lead, influence and model behaviours that grow trust exist everywhere. In this respect, leadership operates multi-directionally. There’s a treasure chest of opportunities to lead through trust, just as there are many levers you can use to do so.
1. Be intentional – deliberately design a high trust environment
Being intentional may singularly be the most important lever. You may be an incredibly strong leader in any of these trust building competencies. With intentionality and awareness, you can grow your skills even more towards even better results. You may also recognise a habit or weakness you can turn into a strength.While you’re intentionally committing to your own trust building capacity, increase your intentionality to your team. Openly share information and plans. Stating that you trust your team to perform, with a chaser that recognises their reality and potential is a powerful starter. Make this the end of doing anything in an ad-hoc way. Increase clarity and direction.
2. Commit to communication
As a behaviour
Most of us can get the point across, we think… The other side of that coin is the meaning that we put on what we hear. Making a commitment to communication is as much about creating clarity with what comes out of your mouth, as it is about what comes into your mind. The key skill is listening to understand. How often are we interrupted by someone bursting to tell us the solution to the story we’re telling? They’re desperate to impress us with how knowledgeable/important/quick-thinking they are when really, they’re not listening at all and are attending to their own agenda. The opposite of this is the person who listens to, and actually processes, what we have to say. That delicious, respectful pause while they consider what’s been said, and the words that follow. Take a breath, process, and then speak.
As content
Nothing kills trust more than water-cooler gossip. While at the time it may make a person feel ‘special’ or ‘trusted’ with the juicy news, it is short lived and increases suspicion when they are no longer part of the party and know that you are a gossip or loose with information. It’s the quality of your communication that counts.
As a method
Creating expectations and even a charter as to how the team does communication creates trust. It becomes an expected way of doing. With a guide of how to conflict courageously, gracefully and respectfully, team members can be heard, resolve issues and increase performance. The trust piece is that by creating the freedom to communicate openly, there are no elephants cowering in corners, or veiled truths to disguise. The direct result is a decrease in risk and an increase in opportunity. Team members are more likely to express their own ideas and reveal information, in the same way that they’re also open to the new ideas of others.
As a perspective – allowing space for different ways and approaches
Knowing your team, and their preferred ways of communicating, allows you to create a safe environment for them to do so, and to mine the gold that’s between their ears.Extroverts tend to process out loud for example. And introverts may prefer to sit in silence while they gather their thoughts. Some people will shine in a collaborative workspace, while others need some solitude. Awareness of what makes your team communication click and building that safety and space is a great way to facilitate trust.
3. Be a realist
There‘s absolutely no point addressing the future potential of your team as if they’ve already achieved it. It’s simply not true. It may not even be believable. Telling white lies, no matter how well intended, does not build trust. Stay focused on the positive, and be real.Grow trust in your team by having a good grasp on your current reality. Acknowledge weaknesses and vulnerabilities alongside the strengths you have. Build an inventory of your talents. Use a strengths-based approach to support and develop the areas that you were previously weak in. If you recognise that as a team you’ve got incredible vision and energy, then use those strengths to leverage your strategic thinking.
4. Show vulnerability, confidently
Far from being the victim or a shmuck, you’re proudly saying you trust the team to help you deliver, to be experts. You’re also giving them that all important hit of oxytocin, dopamine and serotonin while you’re at it.Vulnerability can be so challenging. In too many organisations the culture of never showing weakness is hand-braking growth. If there’s a spectrum, it’s something like victim at one end and confidentially expressing vulnerability at the opposite (successful) other.Putting your cards on the table and admitting that you’re lost, stuck or need to change something will not only engender trust. In a safe and supported environment (the one you create), it will introduce challenge and empower your team to take the lead. It’ll also open the door to new ways of doing things, and may break you out of a habit or pattern that is no longer serving the team or organisation well. Innovation and deviation from normal or planned procedure becomes a catalyst for more open thinking and advanced problem solving. It’s when magic happens. When you create that environment and model that behaviour, your team can do the same.As a leader, there’s a responsibility to hire people who know how to do stuff. By letting them take over leadership and share their expertise you’re letting them, and the team, grow. It's a beautiful thing.In addition, the connectedness through sharing this very human condition is a confident way to lead.
5. Recognise excellence, give praise
Giving feedback and praise of excellence shows your team that you have their back, are paying attention, and that you want them to succeed.“Leadership is encouraging people to go further and do better than they would on their own.” Josh FreedmanIt seems this is easier said, and not being done. Leaders vastly underestimate the power and necessity of positive reinforcement. Of 7,621 leaders surveyed, 37% conceded that they avoid giving positive reinforcement. Indications are that the ability to feed forward positive reinforcement is far more an influential reflection on effectiveness, honesty and trust than the good old constructive look at what you can do better.There’s an interesting bias to notice here. When I work with leaders who are uncomfortable receiving compliments and praise, it can transfer to their own ability to dish out the same. That awkward feeling when someone tells you how well you’ve done is best likened to the person who can’t take a compliment on how good they’re looking without refuting it outright. Being comfortable with receiving praise and paying attention to how you feel can help you build this area. Learning a gracious ‘thank you’ is a good place to start in developing your own ability to offer praise back.So, while we can give and receive praise on a personal level, think of the team as a whole. Recognise the singular and multiplication factors that make your team brilliant and acknowledge them. Thank them and show gratitude for their genius.It’s also important not to foster a culture of unhealthy competition within a team, especially for those members who identify strongly with fairness or status. Certainly, you should celebrate success, and express individual success in terms of how it positively affects the team. Balance is the key - a teacher’s pet situation isn’t what you want. A judgement of unfairness will quickly erode trust.Recognising excellence of effort (as opposed to measurable results) is an incredible lever in teams. You’re demonstrating trust, and increasing intrinsic motivation. Actual results are often outside of our control. Market forces and unexpected events can derail our plans. Recognising attention and effort – the one thing that you are truly in control of - increases drive to outperform the norm. In turn, your team trusts that when they are under the pump and sweating bullets, you know and respect the energy they’re putting in.In short, develop your skills in giving feedback, both positive and constructive. Brief feedback will do the trick, as long as it is specific. Generalities like ‘nice work’ don’t always sound sincere. Saying specifically ‘I appreciate the effort you’re putting in’ is far more powerful.
6. Get out of the way
Your role as leader in growing trust is to give your team unobstructed space to operate, as individuals and as a whole. That means allowing them to succeed, and allowing them to fail.Autonomy is a foundation practice at high trust organisation Google. Prasad Setty, VP of People Analytics and Compensation, states that “One of the tenets we strongly believe in is if you give people freedom, they will amaze you.”A step further from that, demonstrating that you trust your team to recover from a failure, is exemplary. It shows that you respect that they’ll learn, grow and develop from their mistakes. You trust them to look after each other as well as company desired outcomes, and that they’re competent enough to do so.In terms of professional development, if you’re the one who continually jumps in, provides solutions and rescues them, then you take that opportunity from another member of the team. It’s the equivalent of leadership hamstringing.Giving people the space they need works especially well in high performing teams. The team trusts that they will never be thrown under the bus (because their leader has their collective back / will never abandon or blame them), and because they know they’ll always be given the opportunity to stretch.
7. Allow for the whole person
With the death of ‘work-life balance’, and a move towards integrating our life roles with our values, leaders are bringing far more authenticity to their practice. I’ve never understood the me-at-work is so different from me-not-at-work mentality, although we may contextually moderate our behaviour for very good reason. That said, the duality of the leader who walks into the office, and flicks the switch on a new brand of self in leadership mode is not one who engenders trust.Allowing for the whole person respects the values and beliefs that a person has, and allows them to be present. When people can express their whole selves, it gives their work meaning and purpose. This means being an authentic and congruent leader, in your words and actions. Bringing visibility to the human leader that you are creates trust, alignment and loyalty in your team. In essence, have you ever trusted someone you don’t really feel you know?It’s like embracing diversity on steroids, where you go further and deeper than the boxes that get ticked on the census form. People are made up of far more than what they may get the opportunity to express at work. Opening that treasure chest of variety and experience creates connection, a happier workplace and improves productivity.They key is not diving deep into an interrogation, but respectfully allowing people to be who they are. Finding out what your team do on weekends is ‘team-building’ and opens a door. Letting that light in and curiously exploring values is ‘team-combining’ and a very powerful trust builder. The keys are safety, respect and non-judgement. When your team can comfortably unfold and express themselves, they can tap into greater creativity and enhanced performance. And again, you’re the one to lead and model that authentic self.
The Bottom Line
We’re in a highly changeable world of senior people and management. Winning with teams requires intentional leadership that harnesses and multiplies trust. Trust in teams is the basis for lifting performance and achieving so much more than can be achieved alone.No one way is the right way, or only way to build trust. There are a raft of multiplication factors that come together in a powerful wave of positive influence where performance rockets and incredible results can be achieved.“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” – Unknown