Teams and teamwork contribute to a company’s success.       

( ) True?         ( ) False?

The answer is obvious. No matter how large a team–small group, unit, department, or entire company–how well every member of the team engages in the team’s  efforts contributes directly to how successful the team can be.

And how actively an entire team engages in "teamship," the greater the team’s contribution to company success.

So, what’s instrumental to engagement by each team member and by the team itself?

Trust: Critical to a Successful Team’s Foundation
A team that builds its harmony on trust works with the ease and
enthusiasm that bring success. Trust
and team are almost synonymous, but it’s wrong to assume trust happens as soon as the team is created. Bringing trust to the top of every team member’s mind is a giant step
toward team members becoming more fully engaged.

It’s up to the manager to take that giant step.

Here are 3 benefits that might make the step seem a bit easier.  These are  "engagement benefits" from increased trust. 

1. Increased Efficiency – Team members trust that
   every one will carry out her responsibility. Each member engages in her specific
   functions with more complete attention, energy, and involvement. As distractions decrease, efficiency increases.
2. Enhanced Unity — Greater trust among team members removes doubts, cracks, flaws in the team personality. The greater strength increases team’s commitment to its purpose.  Commitment  reinforces engagement; engagement reinforces commitment.
3. Mutual Motivation – Team members trust one another in a more inclusive way. Each member then consciously and subconsciously strives to uphold
   his teammate’s trust. That motivation stimulates the desire for peak
   performance.  That’s the raw material of engagement.

Key Question: How
do you build trust as a fundamental team possession and achieve these benefits?

Short Answer: Provide specific
trust-building tools and tactics that make it easier for team members to build that trust. Team members want to trust one another from the outset. 

I elaborate on that answer with 3 traits you can apply to establish a foundation for trust among your team members.

1. Open Expression: Bring trust to the forefront of everyone’s mind as a common, everyday discussion item. Make it a constant agenda item. Use the word "trust" in slogans and e-mail signatures. Ask informal questions about trust. Not in the negative, rather in the positive. (CORE: the process is Communication, the event/situation is Opportunity.)
2. Information Equity: Ensure that everyone has access to similar information. Only on a strict need-to-know basis is that not the case. Construct processes that ensure simultaneous distribution of same information. (CORE: information is Resource.)
3. Performance Reliability: A high level of team trust creates a “victorious circle.” This reinforces team members’ desire to hold up their end of the bargain by performing as expected, if not better. This reliability, in turn, upholds the trust from other team members and other teams. Construct events in which trust is recognized, appreciated, celebrated. (CORE: Communication, Opportunity and Encouragement combine in situations in which this trust-generates-more-trust phenomenon is expressed and celebrated.)

These are traits of the management style used. They are elements of the culture of engagement. Their reality is up to the manager.

NOTE: If you’ve not been reading Culture to Engage, here’s a catch-up on the CORE concept.

Manager’s efforts to develop a culture of engagement I have segmented into 4 categories:

• Communication: making clear and repeated employees’ expectations…
• Opportunity: creating situations that attract employee involvement and engagement…
• Resources: providing the tools, information, coaching, etc., to ease engagement…
• Encouragement: offering enthusiasm and compliments for engagement evidenced…

• Share
• Tweet

Tags: Communication, Employee Engagement, Management, motivation, Trust