How to Build Trust with Your Team: The 4 Hands-Down Best Ways to do it
Do I even need to explain why trust is paramount for you, your team, & your company to be successful? Probably not...but here it is anyway: if you don’t have trust, you don’t have anything.
Trust is foundational to having a high-performing team & a high-performing culture. Also, when people trust you, life just FEELS better. You are more confident in what you do, & you are able to be more creative & innovative in your approach. You free up brain space because you’re not second-guessing everything you do or write or say.
You need your team to trust that you know what you are doing & can lead them effectively. You need your boss to trust that you can do your job EXCELLENTLY, & will be resourceful & ask for help when you need it. You need to trust YOURSELF that you can do this (because you DEFINITELY can!).
So, Leader, here are the, HANDS-DOWN, 4 Best Ways to Build Trust With Your Team:
1. Do What You Say You’re Going To Do
The best way to build trust is to do the things you say you’re going to do. Commitment & follow-through are the name of the game. When you say you will do something, then do it, you are showing your team that you’re reliable. Reliability builds trust. When you say you will do something, & then don’t follow-through with it, you are breaking down trust. The next time you say you will do something, your team won’t believe you.
When you commit to doing something, then do it, make sure your team KNOWS that you did it! This isn’t being boastful, but rather it’s creating a positive feedback loop. Your team is busy, & they may not realize that you actually are taking action & doing the things you said you would do to create a better work experience for them.
Commit to do something → Do it → Make sure your team knows you did it → Trust Built
2. Be Curious
What do unfortunate cats & great leaders have in common? CURIOSITY!
Curiosity is fundamental to being a great leader. Authentic & genuine curiosity is a powerful builder of relationships because it builds trust between you & the other person.
As people leaders, there are times when we feel as though we need to be the experts & have all of the answers in order to effectively lead our teams. However, you don’t have to have all of the answers. In fact, you can’t! I want you to shift your mindset from needing to be the expert FOR your team to being genuinely curious WITH your team.
The BEST leaders are GENUINELY CURIOUS with their teammates:
Their thoughts
Their feelings
Their motivations
Their demotivators
What they want
What success means to them
THEM. IN GENERAL. THEM!
There are two actionable steps you can take to be curious:
1. SHIFT your thinking from ‘I need to have all of the answers & be the expert’ to ‘I am so curious what this person/team thinks/feels right now’
2. Ask questions! In your 1:1’s, meetings, all the time!
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SIGN UP3. Communicate Your Why
Don’t just tell your team WHAT to do - explain to them WHY they are doing it & WHY it’s important for the future of the business. As humans, we want to be of value & make an impact. We want to MATTER. When we do things that we don’t think are important, we don’t feel good. We feel like we’re wasting our time, & our trust in the person who asked us to do this “time-wasting” task erodes.
But often, the things your team is being tasked with ARE important, but no one has taken the time to explain to them WHY they are important. No one has taken the time to clearly explain how what they are doing is providing value to the organization, or how it ties to the vision & mission of the company. You want your team to trust that you will never ask them to do something that isn’t purposeful or meaningful to the organization. And to do that, when you communicate with your team, always start with your WHY:
Why is what you are saying important?
Why should anyone care?
What behavior change do you want to see as a result of your communication?
Take the time to think through these questions before you communicate (whether verbal, written, video, etc.). Be clear & up-front about your WHY. When your team understands your intention, they will trust you.
4. Conduct Stay Interviews
Employee engagement surveys are great. Exit interviews are necessary. But have you ever thought about STAY interviews?
They are similar to exit interviews, but instead of asking people why they are leaving, you ask them why they are STAYING. You also ask them what might CAUSE them to leave. My two go-to questions are:
What keeps you here?
If 6 months from now you were no longer with the company, what would have caused you to leave?
Stay Interviews are powerful trust builders because you meet with each person 1:1 (#relationshipbuilding), show genuine curiosity about what each individual thinks the company is doing well, & what the company can do better, all with an intention to create an incredible workplace for this person so that they STAY!
You don’t conduct Stay Interviews if you don’t care if people stay or not. You do them because you believe in your team, you know they are rock stars, & you want to make sure you know what the company is doing well (so you can make sure it keeps happening), & what the company could do better (so you can make some changes). You are engaging them, listening to their ideas, & collaborating together to create an even more incredible company, culture, & team.
Stay Interviews are quite literally one of the most amazing things you can do with your team. They build trust, increase employee engagement, & provide you with actionable steps you can take to create an even more amazing culture.
Alright Leader,
Ready to get outside of your comfort zone & level up in all of these areas?
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