Emmanuelle
looks around the room at the sales team. She’s new at the company and still
learning about the relationship dynamics between her coworkers. Tensions are
running high as it was just announced that the team didn’t make their sales
goal for the second month in a row. Not that she’s surprised.
This
past month, the marketing assistant was asked to create a pitch deck from
scratch for a potential client in Canada—a large hospitality brand. Emmanuelle
found out later that he’d never created a pitch deck before yet wouldn’t ask
anyone for help. The marketing manager knew that he wasn’t very experienced yet
was too focused on meeting her personal goals to offer guidance.
The
major blow came when the marketing assistant waited until the day before the
account director was flying to Canada to meet the client, to hand over a few
poorly organized slides that covered only a fraction of the information needed.
Not to mention that the hyper-analytical language he used that wasn’t
appropriate for a luxury hotel brand.
The
poor account director had to pull an all-nighter to get the deck done himself,
before pitching with red eyes on zero sleep. The result? That client is no
longer a potential.
Why is This Team So Dysfunctional?
Emmanuelle
has been racking her brain trying to figure out how to navigate this new
playing field. What’s going on with this team? Why is it so dysfunctional?
Just
because the necessity of teamwork has been preached to us since childhood
doesn’t mean we’re inherently good at it—or even like it for that matter.
Working with other people can be challenging, even more so in the workplace
when stakes are high. So now that we’re off the little league field, what can
we, as working adults, do to have a positive and winning team? According to
Patrick Lencioni, there are five core areas where dysfunction can be seen in
teams: lack of trust, fear of conflict, avoidance of commitment, lack of
accountability and not results-focused.
In
Emmanuelle’s case, her team has a major trust deficit. Teams that don’t have
trust don’t function well. Let’s take a look at the importance of trust, what
teams with and without trust look like, and how we can start building trust in
our own teams starting today.
Great Teams Have Trust
Here
are some facts about teams and trust:
·
Interaction associates & human
capital institute study shows high performing organizations have higher levels
of trust than low performing organizations
So the
studies tell us high performing teams have trust, but what exactly does a team
with trust look like versus a team without trust?
Teams with and Without Trust: What They Look Like
Teams that don’t have trust:
·
Conceal weaknesses and mistakes from each
other
·
Hesitate to ask for help or feedback
·
Jump to conclusions about other’s
intentions
·
Don’t offer help outside of their own
areas of responsibility
·
Fail to recognize and tap into one
another’s skills
Teams that have trust:
·
Admit weaknesses and mistakes, ask for
help
·
Give one another the benefit of the doubt
·
Take risks in offering feedback and
assistance
·
Accept questions and input about their
work
·
Appreciate and tap into one another’s
skills
·
Offer and accept apologies
·
Look forward to opportunities to work as
a group
From $200 a Week to a $30 Billion Valuation: What Airbnb Can Teach
Us About Trust
A great example of how trust can benefit a team can be seen in the now uber successful Airbnb. In 2009, Airbnb was close to going bust with only $200/week in revenue. Searching for answers outside of data, they noticed a pattern – the listing photos were bad. Without any data to back it up, the co-founders decided to travel to NYC, rent a pro camera & take pictures of listings. Revenue doubled within a week.
Without
trust, the founders wouldn’t have been willing to try out an idea that had no
data to back it up. In fact, they probably wouldn’t have shared that idea if
they didn’t trust each other. And this idea prevented them from throwing in the
towel. Now with the company valued at $30 billion, their trust was worth its
weight in gold.
Now
that the founders of Airbnb have seen the great benefit of trusting new ideas,
and allowing for vulnerability, new hires are asked on day one to come up with
new features to try out. They appreciate and tap into their employees’ skills
and want them feel comfortable making mistakes. They’ve seen first-hand the
benefits that can come from this type of team.
Sound Familiar?
If
you’re reflecting on your team and realizing it might be lacking in trust—don’t
run for the hills just yet. Trust isn’t a “you have it or you don’t” thing—it’s
something that takes effort and awareness. If you find yourself in a team
suffering from lack of trust, try these three tips. You can start using these
tips as soon as today to help get your team on track!
Three Tips for Developing Trust at Work
1.
Be Honest
·
Tell the truth
·
Be honest when sharing information, even
if it it’s to your disadvantage
·
Use truthful nonverbal communication
·
Experts say more than half communication
is nonverbal
·
Look people in the eye, use open body
language
2.
Communicate Openly
·
Talk to your team members in an honest,
meaningful way
·
Listen deeply for what’s being said, and
not being said
·
If you have important or relevant
information, share it immediately with the team
·
Meet face to face regularly
3.
Meet face to face regularly
·
Share personal stories
·
Ask questions (sensitively) about
colleague’s family, hobbies, where they’ve lived, etc.
·
Don’t underestimate casual social
activities after work
So
let’s get back to Emmanuelle’s team—the team that for two months straight
hasn’t reached their sales goals.
If the
marketing assistant had trusted his manager, he would have asked for help with
the pitch deck, knowing that he wouldn’t be reproached. He wouldn’t have hidden
the fact that he didn’t know what he was doing. And if his manager trusted the
team, she wouldn’t be only focusing on her goals, while ignoring the goals of
the team. She would have made it a priority to check in with the assistant,
knowing his inexperience warrants a little extra attention, for the benefit of
everyone involved.
Imagine
how this situation would have turned out if the team had trust—the deck would
have been completed well and on time, the account director wouldn’t have had to
drop his responsibilities to stay up all night and fix a deck. Instead, he
would have been well rested and prepared to land a new client. And you know
what? They may have a large luxury hotel brand on their roster—if only they had
trusted each other.
Do you
have trust at work? Yes or no, how can you tell? Let’s talk about it.
Let’s share experiences. Leave a comment below, send me an email,
or find me on Twitter.
