If you want your team to perform at its peak, then you must create an atmosphere of trust. Nothing less will do. That’s because your team won’t take any risks unless they know you have their back.

If, instead, they’re convinced that you’re waiting for them to fail, then they’ll do only enough to reach the minimum. Their highest concern will be for self-preservation; and where self-preservation is most important, individualism - not teamwork, reigns.

 

Trust begins with transparency

Trust begins with transparency. It starts when you’re willing to be vulnerable to others.

That doesn’t mean that you reveal your deepest secrets necessarily; certainly not in the first meeting; but it does mean that you don’t deliberately hide what’s relevant.

The military, for example, is famous for insisting on its policy of revealing information on a so-called “need to know” basis. The problem is that the person who makes this decision may not be the one who needs it or will be affected the most by it.

Trust comes from assuming that those to whom you give what otherwise might be considered as confidential information will use it discreetly. And if it turns out that they didn’t need it after all, your telling them will demonstrate that you trust them to keep it to themselves.

If, however, people do something in the absence of that information and their decision turns out to be the wrong one because of their ignorance, then you are to blame; not them. And if they ever find out that you knew, but failed to tell them - regardless of the reason - then you can bet that any trust that there was between you will suffer.

You have to be open with people. The days of the traditional supervisor / subordinate are over. The days of colleagues, friends, or compatriots are here.

 

Trust gives responsibility

If you want your team to trust you, then you have to be willing to give them full responsibility for getting their projects completed on time and within budget. That also means giving them the authority to do what’s required.

There are only a couple of occasions when you should get involved.

 

1. When you’re asked.

You should make yourself available to answer questions, and to use your authority to remove obstacles or obtain resources that are holding back the team.

 

2. For updates

As you’re responsible for the success of the team, you need to be aware of their progress. That doesn’t mean that you micromanage them. It only means that you check in periodically so that if you’re asked, you know how your team is doing.

 

Trust shares kudos

If you truly have a team, then it means that you’ll evaluate and reward their success as a unit. Either the whole team receives kudos, or none of them do.

You undermine team unity when you single out certain people for awards or recognition.

You see, even though some people may contribute more “direct” value to the team than others, the fact is that you have put each member on the team for a reason. If they aren’t equal players, then they shouldn’t be there at all.

It’s not as if you’re choosing up sandlot cricket teams, and you don’t want the least talented kid to feel left out. Where business teams are concerned, every member counts.

If they’re not contributing to the extent that they’re expected to or are unable to do so, then they shouldn’t be on the team. End of story.

It’s amazing, though, how many managers think that that any group of people, regardless of size or composition, constitutes a team, and that they can evaluate them as individuals come appraisal time.

You either have teams, or you don’t; but you don’t “sort-of” have them.

 

And finally

Where trust prevails, there’s a sense that we’re-all-in-this-together. It’s never them-and-us.

If you’re the team leader, then to the extent possible, you need to play down your role. In fact, you could deliberately rotate the team leader position every three or six months, just so no one gets the idea that you’re more important than they are.

Some universities do this. Everyone eventually gets a shot at being a department chair. The experience is good for them, and no one gets too big for his or her boots.

Another way to do it is to make everyone a team leader, but in different aspects of the project or for different projects.

For example, if you have five people on the team and expertise is found in HR, IT, operations, marketing, and accounting, then each of those people could be team leaders for those areas.

The HR person could take the lead on all matters to do with people, such as holidays, sick time, pay, etc. for the team, and the other members would be responsible for letting him or her have the information needed to stay on top of that.

The IT person would be responsible for maintaining the network, keeping everyone’s computers up-to-date, and obtaining new laptops and mobile phones. It would be up to the members of the team to keep that person informed about glitches in the technology, lost passwords, or broken equipment.

The accounting person could be responsible for all team expenditure, travel claims, per diem, and other expenses, and any issues surrounding pay.

You get the idea.

 

There’s nothing carved in stone that says that only one person can be the team leader, and that that person must hold that responsibility until retirement.

 

Trust is earned

The fact of the matter is that trust is earned. It comes from strong relationships. Neither of these things occurs overnight.  But one stupid act can wreck it . . . forever.

That means that you have to do all that you can to protect and to nurture the relationship that you have with your team. You cannot take it for granted.

If there was ever a place for servant leadership, then this is it.

As the entire team shares the glory for a job well done, there’s no reason for you to be looking for ways to shine personally.

Your goal instead is to make everyone glow as a unit to those who are outside of it, and if you or anyone else on the team seems to be getting the praise, then it’s your job to step in and make doubly sure that those who give it recognise that it’s the team that succeeded.

 

One last thing.

Your team will trust you the most when they see that you’ll do anything for them. Here’s a poignant, but tragic example of what this kind of sacrifice looks like.

In January 2012, the captain of the Costa Concordia deviated from the prescribed course for his ship and struck an underwater rock. The cruise liner partially sank and capsized in relatively shallow water. Thirty-two people died including five crew members.

Where was the captain when all this was going on?

Helicopter rescuers found him swimming in the water while passengers were still on board. They had to order him to get back on board to oversee the evacuation.

Guess who’s skin he was most concerned about?

In another accident nearly 100 years earlier, the passenger line Titanic struck an iceberg. This captain was trying to make a different impression. The ship was probably going too fast for the conditions. More than 1500 people lost their lives on that fateful day.

In this case, however, the captain stayed on board until all of the lifeboats that were going to be launched had left the ship.

He jumped into the water a mere seven minutes before the ship sank.

That’s the difference.

 

 

If you need to be more effective at developing teamwork – email me here.