Developing Trust – Lessons From A Robin
I held a robin this week. In the palm of my hand! It’s true! Unbelievable, I know, but it happened. Feel free to spend time with me over a “strategic latte” and I’ll fill you in on the story!
What was so amazing though, was this special little creature trusted me. And it felt great!
Which led me to consider the huge topic of trust….
Interestingly, the origins of the word trust, come from the Nordic word traust which means confidence.
So what is the level of trust like where you work, in your team, your organisation? Could it be better?
From my experiences over the last 20 years of working with teams and leaders, the presence of trust as one of the key factors to their success, is mentioned time and time again. High performance rarely happens if the team doesn’t trust its members.
But what if trust isn’t strong, how can it be developed?
Here’s a few thoughts:
Developing trust amongst leaders:
- Lead By Example
A lack of trust does not mean getting another person to become more trustworthy. It starts with the individual.
And for the leader, it’s important that they demonstrate they trust their teams. Strategic direction is provided, absolutely, but the leader then needs to trust the team to define the “how”, how team members will achieve the goals.
A dictionary definition of the word trust is:
“Firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something”
Good levels of trust will ensure the leaders can rely on their teams to fulfil their expectations.
If a leader is seen to develop strong levels of trust and confidence in their teams, we see the ripples this has across the organisation, with trust growing in other areas too.
- Communicate Openly
A leader should signpost regularly how and why they are making the decisions. Being aware of team members preferences can help here in ensuring the nuances of the messages are truly heard.
- Get To Know Each Other
On a workshop I recently facilitated, one of the participants shared “it’s important to break bread together”, to socialise, to really understand the full person you are working with. The team away days, the after work social events are so important for the managers and leaders to truly get to know their team.
- “Let’s talk about it.”
It can be useful for the leader to encourage a dialogue on how “it feels” in the organisation at the moment. What is morale really like? If things aren’t working, what can be done to improve them?
Mistakes will happen but if the leader is able to ensure no blame has been apportioned and that lessons are learnt instead, this goes a long way towards what Patrick Lencioni in his book “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team”, calls vulnerability-based trust where it’s safe to take risks rather than fearing conflict. There is a sense of safety, people feel comfortable, to open up, to take appropriate risks and expose vulnerabilities. As Patrick Lencioni states:
“Trust lies at the heart of a functioning, cohesive team and can only happen when team members are willing to be completely vulnerable with one another.”
- Keep The Team A Team
Trust can be lost when cliques occur. Mini meetings which don’t involve the full team can result in resentments, office gossip, suspicions and bad feelings. If at all possible, keep the team a team and involve all in relevant discussions.
A good starting point proposed by Ernest Hemingway:
“The best way to find out if you trust somebody is to trust them.”
A final thought:
For this beautiful moment with the robin to have happened, not only did the robin have to trust me, but I had to trust myself. That I would not harm the bird, that I wouldn’t endanger something precious in my care. That I wouldn’t spoil the opportunity.
How far do we trust ourselves?
How confident are we with our own inner voice?
Do we follow through with what we have promised ourselves?
To trust others we need to trust ourselves first….