Why trust matters
Trust is the heartbeat of any great team. It is the lifeblood of great performance and the foundation of strong interpersonal relationships.
People flourish in places of high trust, where their leaders believe in them, and where they have accountable freedom and permission to do their best work.
Trust is built through actions, not words—moment by moment, through multiple interactions. In the workplace, trust strengthens ongoing relationships and is a predictor of high-quality work and performance.
The cost of low trust
Low trust taxes a business—yes, read that again. It costs money.
Compared with people at low-trust companies, people at high-trust companies report:
- 74% less stress
- 106% more energy at work
- 50% higher productivity
- 76% more engagement
- 40% less burnout
The state of trust in businesses
Unfortunately, trust in businesses is in decline. One in three people doesn’t trust their employer. Countries like the US, Germany, Japan, and the UK have trust scores below 50%, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer.
A lack of trust is also the number one underlying cause of dysfunction in teams.
The glue of teams: Trust
Trust is the glue that holds all teams and relationships together. No matter how talented your team members are, if your team lacks trust, it will fall apart.
A team without trust doesn’t communicate well. They blame, avoid responsibility, and waste effort protecting themselves when they could be using that energy to make progress. Great leaders know that trust is hard-won and easily lost.
What trust really means
Trust is not just confidence in a teammate’s performance. Trust is the confidence that teammates won’t slip a knife in your back when you’re not looking. Trust costs nothing to build, but the cost of low trust is immense.
Think about someone you don’t trust—how hard is it to work with that person? How much energy is wasted covering your back? When trust is low on a team, speed decreases with it. Everything takes longer.
As Stephen Covey would say, nothing travels as fast as trust.
Learning trust
Trustworthy behaviours can be learned, and low-trust behaviours can be unlearned. Trust is something you can get better at, something you can measure and improve, and it’s a crucial ingredient in high-performing team climates.
You cannot be an effective leader without trust. Trust is the currency that fuels the team climate. Ignore it at your peril—it will not ignore you.
Building trustworthy teams
If you want more trustworthy teams with more engaged employees, you have to behave in a more trustworthy way. You have to commit to building trust on an individual level before you can expect it to scale.
Trust is based on our experiences, so for trust to be changed, behaviours must be changed first.
We don’t need sophisticated computer systems to build trust. We need to change what we do. This is both scary and exciting because it means we’re in control.
