Great Teams Have Trust

Trust is #1 when its comes to team building.

And the better the team, the better their performance. If you want to build trust within your team, you have to build vulnerability based trust (as Patrick Lencioni calls it). So, how do you do it?

“At the heart of vulnerability lies the willingness of people to abandon their pride and their fear, to sacrifice their egos for the collective good of the team.” – Lencioni

I have 2 exercises for you in order to accomplish this level of trust:

1. Gather your team, have them say:  1- Where they were born;   2 – How many siblings, and where they fall in the order;    3- What’s the most interesting or difficult challenge you faced as a kid?  What was uniquely challenging to you growing up?

Then maybe at another time that day or another day…

2. Have everyone take the Meyers Briggs or the DISC assessment, then have each team member read his or her results to everyone. This helps people become transparent and vulnerable about their shortcomings. It also helps people understand each other’s weaknesses and not take it personal when that person shows his or her weakness. It helps people to have empathy and understanding for team members. This prevents team members from assuming the worst about someone.

Remember, leaders go first in both of these exercises. If the leader can show vulnerability first, that helps others also be vulnerable. Being vulnerable means stepping up and doing something that feels unsafe and uncomfortable.