You already know everything that I’m going to say. The question is whether or not you have the motivation, the confidence, or the culture in place to move these ideas into action. Trust is at the foundation of any resilient relationship — both personal and professional. If you can’t trust the person across from you then you might employ uninformed edits in your time together. Why? Because you’re guessing. What if you didn’t have to guess? Imagine that everything is “on the table” in a way that allows teams to easily align around objective truth. It’s well within reach if you keep it simple.
How do you develop trust among teams?
As humans, we are often looking for connections with other humans. Introvert or extrovert, there are aspects of connection that we all crave to varying degrees and expression. Being introverted doesn’t mean you don’t like being connected, it just takes you more energy to do so that an extrovert. Both of these roads lead to the same goal. Connection. From this connection, you can establish a purpose, drive alignment, and build trust.
Here are four operating principles that can help cut through the noise.
01 Default to candor: If you aren’t being candid with your people, peers, and leadership (in a respectful manner) then you are missing a huge opportunity. Very few of us truly feast on BS. Many are willing to sling it and most everyone sees through it, even if they don’t call it out. You can say what’s on your mind without offending anyone or putting the organization at risk. Keep things objective. Assess and speak to the situation, the behavior, and the goal(s) or desired outcomes. Fight back the desire to assume intent in others’ actions. Instead, simply ask what was intended and how the behavior is in service of the outcomes that you are pursuing.
02Humility & vulnerability: This is simple. We mimic our leaders in order to survive in organizational culture. It’s the “safe play”. As a leader, you have a decision to make. Are you going to present as open, humble, and lead with humility? In If you aren’t open, very few will be open with you in return. Within the confines of organizational culture are many dark pockets of cultural friction. We all need an example of how to navigate that uncertainty.
This begins with your relationship with your peers, your reports, and even your manager. You can absolutely influence the way you interact with your boss. Leadership is a fluid thing. You can lead from behind, from the side, and from ahead — sometimes moving through those roles in a single conversation. Your job is to make vulnerability safe and productive to engage in a path forward.
03Accountability: This is one of my favorites. When you regularly employ accountability you are actually living in an “alignment” mindset. Teams can more regularly trust each other when everyone knows who is doing what and is aligned on what is expected of them. Accountability may initially feel scary or itchy when you first try it on. This is normal and it will evolve quickly as you and your teams learn and grow along the path of earned autonomy and increased responsibility. If you can handle and drive teams towards accountability the sky is the limit for your career.
04Pragmatism: This one may sting a bit. A company or organization is not a family. Again, a company or organization is not a family. You have chosen to enter into an agreement with the organization that offers you compensation in exchange for your time and expertise. You are both there to achieve a goal — get $hit done, and go home.
When you start looking beyond this exchange in hopes of more you only open yourself up for disappointment. It’s perfectly reasonable to stake your claim when it comes to your time and how you spend it. You are bound by a contract that either entity can nullify if desired. This is the nature of an employment contract, granted they vary around the world with country-based labor laws that I’m not here to talk about.
The business is always going to act on behalf of the best interests of the business. It’s not about you, though it is 100% up to you to (re)claim your agency in the relationship. A wise friend made this very simple for me one day when it was clear that a company-wide RIF was looming, “There are employees and there are owners. We are employees. That’s all.”
Keep it simple if you want to build teams that trust you and each other.
Along the way, you’ll be amazed by what they deliver.
