Research Guides: Team Development: Teambuilding: Trust

1. Overview

Trust is a vital component of a team which fosters innovation, sharing, collaboration, and productivity
To build trust among team members, assess trust, understand gaps, and incorporate positive changes
Specific actions are required to build trust

Trust encourages risk raking
- Allows team members to challenge the normal way of doing things
- Encourages the discovery of more innovative solutions
Trust facilitates information sharing
- Enables team members to have open honest conversations
- Fosters a feeling of confidentiality - “what’s said in the room stays in the room”
Trust encourages collaboration
- Allows the team members to spend more time working together than protecting themselves or “watching their backs”
Trust enhances productivity
- Enables team members to put aside personal goals to achieve common team goals
- Fosters commitment of every member to work together efficiently

Be honest: be upfront and truthful even with difficult conversations
- Getting caught in a lie destroys trust
Show people you care: genuinely care about other people’s interests as much as your own
- Being “me-oriented” sets off alarms
Trust others: give the benefit of the doubt until you have data to the contrary
- Jumping to conclusions inspires mistrust
Address issues directly: confront the problem to improve the working relationship
- Avoiding issues erodes trust
Share relevant information: share knowledge, interests, and experiences to create common ground
- Blindsiding someone breaks trust
Follow through on commitments: act responsibly and reliably by carrying a fair share of the workload
- Missing deadlines (without prior discussions) makes you seem unreliable
Say “no” when you mean it: let the other person have their needs met elsewhere if you truly can’t handle additional work
- Saying yes without follow through leads to others doubting your commitment
Share what you know and what you don’t: be generous with your knowledge but admit when you don’t have the answers
- Acting like a “know-it-all” alienates people

Derby, E. (2014). Six ways that team members build trust with each other. Retrieved from http://www.estherderby.com/2010/08/six-ways-that-team-members-build-trust-with-each-other-2.html
Gordon, J. (2010). Soup: A recipe to nourish your team and culture. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.