Building Trust is the Foundation for High Performing, Healthy Teams

Trust is vital to building healthy organizations and high-performing teams, and often it is overlooked.

Establishing trust in workplaces at the interpersonal and leadership levels is crucial and supports an organization's integrity.

I'm not talking about the moral integrity of a person or group of people but the structural integrity that creates stability and the foundation.

Genuine trust in an organization extends beyond trusting a person's character, ability, strength, or even the truth about someone or something; trust in an organization has to be paired with vulnerability and spaces that allow employees and leaders to stand confidently in their mistakes, weaknesses, and failures.

Vulnerability-based trust supports accountability and promotes collaboration, open communication, productive conflict, and many more aspects of organizational health.

When working with organizations in times of high conflict, low morale, or high turnover, a lack of trust always surfaces and, if ignored, prevents forward movement.

Author Patrick Lencioni defines vulnerability-based trust as the willingness of team members to be vulnerable with one another, to admit their mistakes, weaknesses, and fears, and to rely on one another for support and guidance.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines trust as the assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something.

As I think about these two definitions of trust, the binary between strengths and weaknesses stands out. Yet this binary is relevant when they rely on an inherent relationship with another individual or group.

Trust in a team depends on our ability to build relationships, and this is often overlooked and viewed as a soft skill in work environments versus the foundation for a strong team and healthy workplaces.

We take for granted the intentionality and care it takes to build solid connections and the lasting benefits they bring to our workplaces and community. Organizations that work to build trust and connections across their teams benefit from improved communication, strong collaboration, increased productivity, and the ability to engage in productive conflict.

Most importantly, teams with high trust have higher employee engagement, and employee well-being is prioritized, resulting in stronger morale and retaining talent.

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How Ideate Collaborative can help your team

At Ideate Collaborative, we use proven assessments to help individuals and organizations understand their developmental needs and strengthen awareness of power, privilege, race, culture, and communication. Do you see value in understanding the dynamics of workplace culture for your team?

See how Ideate Collaborative can help your organization.