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Mukti Shah
Trust is a tricky thing. It can make all the difference between a
healthy and productive team and one that tears itself apart. It is
therefore imperative that a team leader creates a healthy culture of trust
because a team that trusts is secure and also performs better.
This crucial ingredient, intangible yet a powerful motivator, works
on two levels - between team members as well as between them and their
leader. Either way, the onus is on you because a good team leader always
sets the tone. This would mean setting up a transparent system, assessing
performance as objectively as possible and never playing favourites.
Remember, mistrust can go viral very quickly. So here's a checklist
that will help you detect the problem and nip it in the bud.
How to take a trust-check
Are your team members too guarded? Keep an ear open for stilted
conversations and lack of openness and authenticity in conversations. Do
your team members think twice about what they say and to whom they say it?
Lack of trust is also fertile ground for people to jump to conclusions and
hold grudges against each. You will be surprised how much energy it takes
to manage a team that mistrusts each other. So, identify the problem
quickly, before work starts to suffer.
Watch out for blame games: Passing the buck is not unusual but when
blame games become habitual, it's a sign of a deeper malaise. If your team
members do not own responsibility, both individually and collectively, your
business will not be productive. Since energy is directed at protecting
oneself and pointing fingers, the focus shifts away form work. Says Vijay
Gupta, a behavioral expert and also Founder and President of TeamResults
Corporate Solutions Ltd, "Blaming each other for failure and trying to
be seen by the entrepreneur/leader as being more reliable than the other
members is a definite sign that there is an absence of trust in your
team."
Your business could take a hit: Have you noticed a lack of meaningful
debate during meetings? Low trust stifles creativity and risk-taking. So,
even if someone has a brilliant idea, they are reluctant to share it with
the team. Creative thinking, brainstorming and problem-solving take the
fall. If you notice that your team members are not actively involved in
meetings, and work in general, the problem could be lack of trust.
Mistrust kills team work: Mistrust is essentially associated with
suspicion about information and it therefore results in reduced information
exchange and feedback between members. They stop soliciting or offering
performance feedback to each other, which robs opportunities for
self-correction. Monitoring performance then falls to the entrepreneur or
team leader, who already has too much on their plate. Mistrust also
compromises the ability to anticipate other team members' needs through
accurate knowledge of their responsibilities. This includes the ability to
shift workloads among members and assist each other to achieve balance
during periods of high workload or pressure. Perhaps it's time to take a
trust-check?
Get your team to trust you
A good team leader or entrepreneur always leads by example. Thus, at
the organisational or policy level, they must ensure that appreciation and
recognition is based on objective criteria. So, for instance, they do not
hire relatives and friends. And, most importantly, they create
transparencies in the system so that everyone can see each other's results
and performance," Gupta points out.
On the flipside, he adds, "Although trust is the backbone of the
structure of a team, every task still needs to be tracked to ensure proper
execution. Trust as an excuse for lack of follow-up can be suicidal for an
enterprise. However, the follow-up and discussions on execution have to be
open and done with the people responsible for them."
Mukti Shah is a Clinical Psychologist, Corporate Consultant and an
accredited Entrepreneurial Motivation Trainer.
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