Primary Blog/Leadership & Team Building/A Guide to Building Trust Within a Team

A Guide to Building Trust Within a Team

Friday, May 05, 2023

Are you a team leader trying to improve the productivity and innovation of your team, but finding that traditional team-building activities just don't seem to have lasting results?

As a team leader, building trust within your team is essential for improving productivity and innovation. However, traditional team-building activities can often fall short in this regard, feeling contrived and not reflective of real workplace issues.

The problem with typical team building activities like balancing on a beam or doing trust falls and other popularly chosen exercises is that they’re not a reflection of a real work environment and they don’t tackle real work issues.

Trying to build trust within your team in this manner tends to be a real waste of money and time, as participants remember it simply as a fun thing that happened, but not necessarily experiencing transformation in critical thinking or productive behavior.

Team building activities are more for learning to build collaborations and less about building trust and relationships.

Not to mention, typical team-building activities often feel awkward, have no relevance, and leave your employees feeling bored.

If you are a team leader, your team members are the most value-creating and value-sustaining assets you have.

How can you effectively build trust within your team to lead with confidence and earn the respect of your team members?

In this article, we will explore the principles of leadership and building trust within a team, rather than focusing on tactics and team-building exercises.

The Two Types of Trust

When it comes to building teams within your workplace there are two types of trust: task-based trust and relationship-based trust.

Task-Based Trust

Task-based trust is about whether a person will do what they say they will do, in the time they said they will do it, with the skills they proclaim to have.

When it comes to task-based trust, the key considerations are:

Are you going to do what you say you’re going to do?

Are you going to do it in the time that you said you were going to do it?

Do you really have the skills you say you have?

And are you really going to help me with what you say you’re going to do?

For some individuals, task-based trust is more important, for others it’s relationship-based trust.

Relationship-Based Trust

Relationship-based trust is about the emotional connection and understanding within the team.

For example:

Did I share a meal with you?

Have I had an opportunity to observe how you treat your parents, your other close family members, and your partner?

Have I had an opportunity to really have a personal conversation with you and to share a meal with you as well?

Have you shared with me your personal values, your challenges, and your personal experiences in life?

When you build an emotional connection with someone it tends to build a relationship. For individuals who value and prioritize this type of trust, if there is a relationship that has been nurtured, then there is trust.

To build trust within your team, it’s crucial to focus on both types of trust. This means being authentic and transparent with your team, actively listening and showing a deep understanding of their concerns, and having candid conversations.

It’s also important to set clear expectations and follow through on your commitments. Executive coaching and leadership skills can help develop these principles.

Knowing which type of trust is more helpful for your employees depends on knowing who you are trying to build trust with.

Some people will be more receptive to task-based trust and others will lean more toward relationship-based trust.

3 Principles of Leadership

Key Leadership Skills

Being authentic and transparent with your team

Actively listening and showing empathy toward team members’ concerns and issues

Having clear communication and establishing open lines of communication

Setting clear expectations and following through on commitments

#1. Mission Creates Alignment

What is the mission of the team that you’re trying to achieve?

The mission of your team should align with the mission of the organization. You should be transparent in how you articulate the mission to your teams and how they align with the individual values of your team members as well.

#2. Transparency Creates Accountability

When you create an environment where your team has absolute transparency you make it possible to have accountability and to build trust.

Here are 3 key areas of transparency:

Metrics

How do we know that we’re going to succeed?

How do we know how far we have progressed towards our goals?

Responsibilities

Does every single team member of your team know what everybody else is responsible for?

Does your team know the progress that they have been making weekly or monthly?

Issues

What are the issues at hand?

What are things that didn’t work?

What are things that did work?

#3. A Great Leader is One That Leads by Example

Ask yourself what your top priorities are by rank. For example:

Is it meeting deadlines in a timely manner?

Is it receiving reports on a weekly basis?

Whatever you decide is important to you, be an example and show your teams that you are not above it.

In addition to these principles, it’s also crucial to foster a culture of learning within your team. Encourage team members to take on new challenges and learn new skills and provide support and resources for their personal and professional growth.

By creating a safe and supportive environment for learning and growth, you can build trust and strengthen the bond within your team.