TRUST is the most important requirement for building teamwork. The word “trust” can be misleading. We just don’t mean trusting someone because they seem reputable. The element of trust, relative to teamwork, is much more far reaching. For example, teamwork must be built upon a foundation of trust where it is okay to acknowledge mistakes, weaknesses, failures and requests for help. The team must be comfortable in every aspect of dealing with such issues. In addition, each teammate must also recognize the strengths of others. This is very difficult since most individuals in the workplace are highly competitive and do not have the ability to recognize the strengths of others when they exceed their own strengths.
What is a leader to do when he or she is faced with a roomful of accomplished, proud, and talented staff members, getting them to let their guard down and risk loss of positional power? This is a most difficult challenge and the only way to initiate it is for the leader to go first. If you are a leader, let me ask you: Do you do this?
Showing vulnerability is unnatural for many leaders, who were raised to project strength and confidence in the face of difficulty. And while that is certainly a noble behavior in many circumstances, it must be tempered when it comes to demonstrating vulnerability-based trust to hesitant team members who need their leader to strip naked and dive into the cold water first. Of course, this requires that a leader be confident enough, ironically, to admit to frailties and make it easy for others to follow suit.
One particular CEO I worked with failed to build trust among his team and watched the company falter as a result. As it turns out, a big contributing factor was his inability to model vulnerability-based trust. As one of the executives who reported to him later explained to me, “No one on the team was ever allowed to be smarter than him in any area because he was the CEO.” As a result, team members would not open up to one another and admit their own weaknesses or mistakes.
What exactly does vulnerability-based trust look like in practice? It is evident among team members who say things to one another like “I screwed up,” “I was wrong,” “I need help,” “I’m sorry,” and “You’re better than I am at this.” Most important, they only make one of these statements when they mean it, and especially when they really don’t want to.
If all this sounds like motherhood and apple pie, understand that there is a very practical reason why vulnerability-based trust is indispensable. Without it, a team will not, and probably should not, engage in unfiltered productive conflict.
Click here for Part 3 – Embrace Healthy Conflict
DiBona & Associates works with clients to establish a safe environment so managers can become comfortable taking an introspective look at their own strengths and weaknesses. Sadly, we are usually only called into situations when a massive problem has occurred. I would like to challenge those of you that are reading this post to consider improving your teamwork as a proactive measure, rather than a fix. Great organizations foster an environment where vulnerability-based trust is put into practice each day.
