{"id":1393,"date":"2018-10-23T00:00:10","date_gmt":"2018-10-23T00:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhanderson.biz\/?p=1393"},"modified":"2019-01-03T00:15:32","modified_gmt":"2019-01-03T00:15:32","slug":"4-ways-to-build-trust-on-your-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jhanderson.biz\/index.php\/2018\/10\/23\/4-ways-to-build-trust-on-your-team\/","title":{"rendered":"4 ways to build trust on your team"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\u201cI\u2019m sorry, but I just don\u2019t trust you,\u201d said Pat to Chris skeptically.<\/p>\n

Within this black cloud of a sentence\u2014sure to drop plenty of rain on any relationship\u2014there is a very faint silver lining: the fact that Pat is willing to say it out loud to Chris. More typically, a lack of trust means that talking about it with this degree of clarity is not very likely.<\/p>\n

Team trust is a critical component of effectively working together. When trust is there, results fly out the door. Without trust, anything good that happens feels like a miracle.<\/p>\n

Whether your team is in the enviable position of having a high level of trust or not, it can seem like an uncontrollable mystery, something wondrous like lightning in a bottle. Certainly team chemistry and personalities have a lot to do with it. But it\u2019s not entirely down to luck. We can thank consultants David H. Maister, Charles H. Green and Robert M. Galford for providing a handy and practical formula to help unpack the mystery and give your team a sense of control. In The Trusted Advisor<\/a><\/em>\u00a0 they describe a \u201ctrust quotient\u201d that they use in their consulting practice to measure trust levels between people that work together. More above the formula on their website<\/a>. Here are its elements:
\n\"\"
\nWhere:
\n<\/em>T = trustworthiness
\nC = credibility (your words)
\nR = reliability (your actions)
\nI = intimacy (your emotions)
\nS = self-orientation (your motives)<\/p>\n

In a team context, having the space to explore trust in terms of its component parts is like gold. Chris and Pat\u2019s conversation can shift from \u201cI don\u2019t trust you\u201d to \u201cI\u2019m having trouble trusting you, and I think these are some of the reasons why.\u201d In that shift the conversation moves from a brief and possibly testy exchange to an open and curious inquiry, one that might include other people on the team and will likely lead to greater insight, understanding, and (with a little luck and effort) improved trust.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say that these conversations will be entirely easy. It\u2019s just that the terms of the conversation are broken down in a way that makes it more manageable. Let\u2019s consider each of these elements:<\/p>\n