The First Stop Toward Building an Effective Team

The first stop toward building an effective team is trust. Unfortunately, it’s usually the last stop too as most teams are unable—or perhaps unwilling—to cultivate an atmosphere of trust.

The biggest block to building trust is the human ego, which is instinctively self-serving and self-protective. As we all have an ego, working harmoniously in a team-oriented environment is a challenging endeavor. But as we noted, the rewards of overcoming this challenge are well worth the effort.

In a trusting team, people are able to make statements like:

• I was wrong. My bad. I goofed. I made a mistake.
• I could use your help.
• I’m really not sure.
• I think you’re better than I am at that.
• I’m sorry about that.

Statements like these denote courage, humility, security and inner strength. When team members exhibit these qualities, open dialogue leads to creative results and greater productivity.

Without trust, people default to posturing and politics where statements are made based on how they think co-workers will react. Office politics wastes precious time and energy. Worse yet, without trust, people withhold their true thoughts and valuable input is lost. You are then unable to achieve authentic commitment among team members.

Trust starts with the team leader. To foster a trusting atmosphere:

1. Get personal. We tend to trust people we know. As a group, ask questions about each person’s background to reveal aspects of their past that fellow team members aren’t likely to know. Don’t make it touchy-feely. Ask questions like What is one of your favorite hobbies? Or What is a difficult challenge you had in childhood?
2. Go off-site. One of the best ways to connect your team is to get them out of the office. We tend to have set patterns in the workplace. Having your team meet off-site helps members connect on a more personal level.
3. Dive deep. Explore the behavioral dynamics in your team. Have your team take an assessment like Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® or the DiSC® Model. None of these assessment tools are perfect, but they will help facilitate insightful discussion among your team members. The better we understand our team members and ourselves, the more likely we are to trust them.
4. Be patient. Building trust takes time—especially when team members have past experiences to validate their fear of being open.

As the leader, you must go first and be willing to take a risk. Trust starts with you. If you’re committed to building an effective team, your job starts and ends with creating a trusting environment.

Related posts:

1. Five Habits of Highly Effective Team Leaders
2. Seven Great Reasons to Invest in Team Building
3. Seven Attributes of a World-Class Team Member
4. Honoring Others: The Power of Compassion
5. The Five Archetypes of a Destructive Team