It feels kind of strange to write this one, and the following post, because it seems like it should be self explanatory. Today’s topic is on trust, and why its foundational to a team. More importantly, how teams may not recover if trust is broken. Effective teams need to be able to trust each other. We’ve all heard that multiple times, but why? That’s what I want to explore in this topic, not as some BS productivity coach, but as a guy trying to keep his team together.
Trust is essential to teams for a few different reasons. First, you need to trust that your team mates are doing what they need to. This comes in the form of performing thorough code reviews, to ensuring that the deliverables they’re working on gel with what you’re working on. Its also about making sure that they are there for you and have your back when things go sideways, whether that’s in meetings or with surprise requirements on a project.
Secondly its about being able to express your doubts and fears about a project. This goes in to the concept of “psychological safety”. Your team needs to feel like they can express issues they may see without dismissed or retaliated against. This also extends to a team being able to express when they feel overwhelmed. This can lead to tough conversations, but the team comes out stronger overall for it.
So what do you do if trust is broken? Its honestly a pretty serious issue that needs addressed sooner rather than later. If you’re the one who broke the trust, you need to own up to it and apologize. If its someone else, you need to call the issue out as constructively as possible. Even then, its going to take a long time to restore the team back to normal. If the breach is serious enough, your team may never recover the relationship it had (with the traitor at least).