At the heart of team trust lies the willingness of people to abandon their pride and their fear and simply be themselves. While this can be a little threatening and uncomfortable at first, ultimately, it becomes liberating for those who are tired of overthinking their actions and managing interpersonal politics at work. There are many reasons why a team might be guarded and less open with one another.
Acknowledging one’s weaknesses, willingly apologizing, and being genuine with one another are all behavioral examples of team trust – vulnerability-based trust*. In part-one, I offered reasons why it’s difficult for team members to acknowledge their weakness, and what leaders can do to promote greater trust. Here, I’d like to share why team members struggle with apologizing to one another – another key trust-building behavior that is absent often within teams.
When coworkers are open about their weaknesses and admit their mistakes, does it help you trust them more? Well, it should. Team trust is all about vulnerability. We know trust is high when team members acknowledge their weaknesses, willingly apologize, and are unguarded and genuine with one another. Without this type of trust, it’s unlikely that …
Team Trust: why it’s hard for team members to be vulnerable with one another Read More »
Accountability has become another catchword – so overused and with so many different interpretations that it has lost much of its meaning. According to Patrick Lencioni, author of the Five Dysfunctions of a Team, “When it comes to teamwork, accountability means the willingness of members to remind one another when they’re not living up to performance …
Great teams understand that they must be able to make timely decisions and commit, even when the outcome is uncertain and not everyone initially agrees. It’s the desire for consensus and the need for certainty that prevents many teams from achieving commitment and moving forward. Teams that fail to commit find themselves revisiting discussions and …
The first and most important behavior for developing a high-functioning, cohesive team is to build trust. According to Patrick Lencioni, author of “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team”, team trust is all about vulnerability.* Team members who trust one another are comfortable being open to one another regarding their failures, weaknesses, and fears. Vulnerability-based trust …
Those of us who have had the experience of being a member of a high-performing team know firsthand of the benefits. It is seen in the quantity and quality of results the team produces and in the high levels of satisfaction experienced by its members. Others of us have seen the opposite – teams that …