You know, that trust is the foundation you need for a high-performing team, right?
Did you also know that there are three ways that we do trust and not everybody does trust in the same way, read until the end and find out what those three ways are and which one you might be.
A little back story..
A few years ago, I had the amazing privilege of leading a team of coaches. There were about 80 of us across a mayor project for Ford motor company.
I can hand on heart say that one of the things or the key thing really that made that team so successful was the amount of TRUST that we had as a team and in each other.
Was it tested sometimes? Yes, it was. Did we ever have to have difficult conversations? Absolutely. But it was definitely trust that made it successful.
We had some ground rules and we had some ways of working that made sure trust grew and that we could tackle any of the issues that came up along the way.
Let me take you through those the three ways we do trust:
Just give trust
Give trust straight away. Then the only thing that the person can do is actually lose that trust.
Now, this is the way that I do trust and it’s not quite blind trust. I use my intuition and my intuition seems to be made up of an assessment that I make at some level of a person’s ability, what I believe a person’s intention is and how reliable they are.
The downside of this is that it can then take quite a long time to recover that trust if that trust is broken at any stage.
Observe somebody or have somebody deliver a number of times before they trust
Say you give somebody responsibility for a project, and then they deliver on that project. You give them responsibility for another one. They deliver on that project.
You give them responsibility for a third one, they deliver on that project. And then because of that reliability, you then trust them. So that’s another way that people do trust.
Another topic recommendation:
Giving trust over time
It’s sort of based on the trial period that you might have at work. You might have a three-month trial period. And over that period of time, as a manager you can see how they relate to others in the team, what their work ethic is and whatever else you are going to use as a measure. It’s essentially an opportunity for you to really get to know them, get to know their intention, get to know why they’re doing things, and figure out how reliable they are.
Now..
There isn’t a best way to do trust. These three ways are perfectly valid.
So give trust straight away, get somebody to deliver a number of times or thirdly, do it over a period of time.
However, the way that you will get trust back quickest is if you give trust straight away.
As I’ve said, that does come with the caveat that if trust is broken, then it might take a lot longer to recover it.
So how do you do trust?
Do you give trust straight away? Do you need a period of time or do you need someone to deliver a number of times and importantly, how does this differ from other people on your team?
I ask because this is where some conflicts can occur. Trusting someone straight away is one thing, but if another person needs a little time or needs to see you deliver a few times, how can that lead to misunderstanding? Could it create conflict?
Therefore, I would encourage you to first determine the way you do it and then discuss it with your team. In what ways do they do it and where might misunderstandings and conflicts arise.
Of these three ways, which one do you use?
