Part 4: Rebuilding Trust

A team with low trust is like a school bus running on empty: sooner or later, the engine stops and everybody starts getting off.

Positive outcomes of high trust are highlighted in parts 1, 2, & 3 of this series. Now we take a closer look at the impact of low trust on teams. Spoiler: low trust makes everything worse. 

PWC’s annual trust survey includes many fascinating findings, including how low-trust environments have “an immediate impact on everyday operations.” The downsides of low trust are many according to executives who cited:

• Decreased productivity (42%)
• Decreased quality of products and services (41%)
• Decreased operational efficiencies (40%) 
• Decreased profitability (38%)

And these are only a few of the bad stats. What does a low-trust company look like in real life? 

• A salesperson works months to close an important deal, but the manufacturing division fails to deliver the large order to specs, and the customer is lost. The salesperson turns cynical and doesn’t take as many chances to land big customers. Trust building through Action erodes.
• A low-trust boss overlooks employee efforts on a big project and instead chooses to focus on minor mistakes rather than leveraging the employees innovations and strengths. It appears the boss is mostly worried about looking bad to upper leadership. The employee checks out and becomes robotic in their work. Trust building through Insight erodes.
• While working on an important project, an employee decides to keep important decisions and information to themselves and only collaborates after the outcome has been decided. Other employees notice this and do the same in order to protect themselves. Silos are created as team members keep their work hidden from input until it is too late to change. Trust building through Connection erodes. 

These scenarios, and more like them, play out everyday on low trust teams. PWC sums it up as this: 

The risk is not that people leave - it’s that they stay and work half-heartedly.

But the bad does not stop there. The strains of low-trust environments come home with employees, negatively impacting communities as tensions seep into relationships. Look for a future article about how trust is contagious as it rubs off on people via mirror neurons. Yikes!

Ingredients of a Low Trust Environment 

I doubt low-trust leaders wake up thinking about how they can frustrate people. So, why do they do it? 

Naturally, people have priorities and preferences - this is normal. Things go wrong when people over-prioritize their own interests and do not balance with the interests of others. Too much self-interest creates low-trust environments. Multiply this through a few leaders and teams, and a toxic culture is born. 

But the big problems occur when people attempt to leverage the little trust they have built to manipulate others for their own interests. In my experience and observation, this happens when low-trust leaders get blinded by their own goals which seem completely logical to them. But whenever manipulation is detected, trust is eroding. In short...

Manipulation is where trust goes to die. 

Alternatively, trust is built when the best interests of others are considered even when the other person is not there to advocate. In essence, this is “being there” for the other person and is the foundation for creating trust. If enough teams and leaders are “there for each other,” then a healthy culture is created. 

How do I know if trust is low? 

When you think about work on Sunday night, how do you feel? If you feel sick, that’s a bad sign. What are some specifics of low-trust teams? 

John Gottman describes what he calls The Four Horsemen as a way to know when relationships are turning sour. If these signs show up regularly, in any relationship, trust has eroded and the relationship is beginning to disintegrate.

• Criticism: Attacks on people’s character or personality
• Contempt: Showing disrespect, disgust, or superiority 
• Defensiveness: Refusing to accept responsibility by making excuses or turning the blame back on the person
• Stonewalling: Withdrawing interactions, either by shutting down emotionally or physically leaving

Some people may think “my team has all of these!” And while that may be true, these qualities do not have to be part of our lives IF we are willing to work together and take responsibility for the environment. 

Repairing Trust

These points are all true but team members have to want to build trust. For trust to be rebuilt, everyone should expect to give up something, own a part of it, or maybe even have to say… “I’m sorry.” If people are unwilling to accept this reality or only want the other people to apologize, trust is extremely difficult to rebuild. If you do want the benefits of higher trust, these steps are a brief summary of what will move the needle.

For teams that are tired of allowing low trust to control their productivity, quality, and efficiency, trust can be rebuilt. 

1. Seek to Understand: Do you know what matters most to those on your team when it comes to earning their trust? In late October,TrustBuilider™ will launch a proprietary tool that fast-forwards your ability to know those on your team and earn their trust. Once available, you and your team can complete TrustBuilider™ profiles, take time to review each person’s Builders, and follow the team discussion guide included in your profile. This alone will help. But for trust to regrow, there is more to do. 
2. Acknowledge Breakers: Reviewing Builders and Breakers is an opportunity to be reflective without needing to be confrontational. As the leader, begin with your own reflection on your Breakers and then review team member’s top Breakers. This is not a complaint session or opportunity to verbally dogpile on people. Be empathetic when discussing Breakers. 
3. Rebalance Interests: Trust erodes when interests are out of balance. This is the opportunity to rebalance by seeking to understand and value each other’s interests. Discuss as a team what interests are not being accounted for and what might be done differently. Consider the benefits your team will enjoy regarding productivity, quality, and efficiency once trust is established and interests are balanced. 
4. Focus on the Future: Of the 30 Builders, discuss as a team which Builders are most important in the current circumstances and identify any that may be important in the near future. Focus on no more than 3 Builders as a team. 

As a leader, these conversations can be messy. It can be more effective to have an outside voice come in and lead teams through this process. Let us help. Our expert facilitators will navigate these sticky conversations and help your team or organization get back on track and running on all cylinders.

Want to start now? Book a call with Morgan to explore options!