Building Trust

Ensuring that your people look upon you with respect by doing the following:

  • Instilling pride in people for being associated with you
  • Communicate openly
  • Going beyond your self-interest for the good of the group
  • Keep your promises
  • Acting in ways that builds others respect for you
  • Being fair and reliable (authentic, transparent and honest)
Group of people holding hands in sign of trust

Check Lists

Templates

10 ways to earn the trust and respect of your team:

  1. Be transparent with motives and goals.
  2. Demonstrate your character and intention to do the right thing for your team.
  3. Put the team's needs before your own.
  4. Help employees grow by letting them test, learn and fail without fear.
  5. Trust employees of the bat, don't make them feel they have to earn it.
  6. Let yourself be vulnerable, and admit to mistakes.
  7. Use inclusive words like "we" to show that you're part of the team, not above it.
  8. Ask for feedback and take action quickly where change is needed.
  9. Be yourself - people respond best to authenticity.
  10. Be open to learning from your team - everyone will have something to teach you.

Guiding Questions

For Managers:

  • How would I describe my relationship with my team?
  • Do I feel like I can trust my team?
  • Do I feel like I can be transparent with my team?
  • Do I encourage my team to give me their opinion?
  • Do I give my team enough freedom to decide how they can do their work?
  • Can I count on my team when I need help?
  • Do I and my team collaborate together?
  • How do I use 1:1 meetings to connect with my team?
  • On a scale of 1 to 20, how is my relationship with my team?
  • Do I feel that trust issues are affecting my team’s productivity?
  • Do I delegate important task to my team members?

By Manager to a Team Member:

  • Do you feel like you can trust me?
  • Do you feel like you can share honest thoughts with me?
  • Do you trust the rest of the team?
  • How can we improve as a team?
  • What can we do to make you more successful?
  • Is there any part of your job where you want more help or coaching?
  • Are you happy working here?
  • How do you feel your work/life balance is right now?

Learning Materials

What should happen in a 1:1 meeting?

  • Reading: Asking open ended questions helps new managers build trust
  • MyAcademy: Active Listening Masterclass

What can I do to improve trust?
      

  • Reading I: Want your employees to trust you? Show you trust them
  • Reading II: What to do when you don't trust your team?
  • MyAcademy: Buildind Trust w/ Employees (by Vado)

How can I assess my leadership model?

  • Assessing your Leadership Mode - quiz (we should transform the quiz in an online one)

Books

Powerful book cover

Powerful

When it comes to recruiting, motivating, and creating great teams, Patty McCord says most companies have it all wrong. McCord helped create the unique and high-performing culture at Netflix, where she was chief talent officer. In her new book, Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility, she shares what she learned there and elsewhere in Silicon Valley.

Trust Works! book cover

Trust Works!

Trust Works!: Four Keys to Building Lasting Relationships is an insightful guide designed to help people navigate one of the most complex issues that affects all areas of our lives: trust.

Talks

How to build and rebuild trust video thumbnail

How to build and rebuild trust

Trust is the foundation for everything we do. But what do we do when it's broken? In an eye-opening talk, Harvard Business School professor Frances Frei gives a crash course in trust: how to build it, maintain it and rebuild it -- something she worked on during a recent stint at Uber. "If we can learn to trust one another more, we can have unprecedented human progress," Frei says.

Why good leaders make you feel safe video thumbnail

Why good leaders make you feel safe

What makes a great leader? Management theorist Simon Sinek suggests, it’s someone who makes their employees feel secure, who draws staffers into a circle of trust. But creating trust and safety — especially in an uneven economy — means taking on big responsibility.

Your body language may shape who you are video thumbnail

Your body language may shape who you are

Body language affects how others see us, but it may also change how we see ourselves. Social psychologist Amy Cuddy argues that "power posing" — standing in a posture of confidence, even when we don't feel confident — can boost feelings of confidence, and might have an impact on our chances for success.