TRUST – is it earned or assumed in a new leadership team?

Here are a few thoughts that might come in handy if you work with people!

At a recent Executive Team offsite a debate ensued between two members of a new team about trust.

One was adamant that trust had to be earned, while the other assumed (and demanded) that trust was immediately granted on joining the team.

A bit of facilitation soon revealed that neither person’s position was quite as black and white as their initial pronouncements suggested, however it also showed that few people have a shared language or model for describing what they mean by trust and yet it remains so fundamental to effective teamwork and collaboration.

Fifteen years ago Larry Reynolds wrote a handy reference book titled The Trust Effect (Nicholas Brearley, 1997) in which he suggested four elements of trust: Competence, Openness, Reliability and Equity.

At Think One Team we combined that with Integrity to create an easy-to-remember acronym, I-CORE which has proven to be remarkably useful in assessing people’s level of trust – and it also offers a very handy tool when coaching and guiding people to address trust gaps.

Take a moment and try it on someone who you’d like to build a stronger relationship with:

·         Integrity – do they meet your definition of a person of integrity?

·         Competence – how do you rate their capability on what matters?

·         Openness – are they suitably open minded and willing to share their thoughts and feelings?

·         Reliability – do they get things done how and when you expect?

·         Equity – do they treat you with respect?

OK. Do you trust the person?  Chances are that the answer is ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ when you break it down to the five elements.

And if they just joined your team, what does that mean? Do you trust them implicitly?  And would you expect them to trust you? 

Many people seem to have strong answers to the question of trust and yet it is a classic adaptive challenge, which means that we learn how to trust each other: and having a shared language certainly helps to speed up that process!!

Learn How City of Marion Improved Their Performance

The City of Marion, a leading South Australian Metropolitan Council, has a reputation for achieving excellent outcomes for the community through its innovative approach to developing a constructive workplace culture and a strong service ethos. 

Think One Team International designed an alternative to the traditional performance management process, with emphasis on creating a framework that creates a constructive culture and improves quality of conversations.

What was our approach?

With our Cure the Review™ framework, we designed a framework with supporting resources and coaching based on these four key principles:

1.    Create an environment where people achieve meaningful outcomes, develop, grow and enjoy their work

2.    Work towards gaining an ideal relationship between the manager and team member to work together effectively

3.    Performance conversations should be based on two cycles - an annual cycle and an inside quarterly cycle

4.    Provide staff with simple non-traditional tools and practical coaching to help make performance partnering effective

 

The Results

As a result of this project, there is greater enthusiasm and commitment to the performance discussions. We found that people preferred the simple and engaging tools that were provided and realised that over time, there is a need for continued reinforcement of a positive constructive culture.

Interested in reading the full City of Marion Case Study? Click here.

Can Think One Team International turn your traditional performance review into a meaningful process which fosters a high performing culture? Speak to Paul Lloyd today for a no-obligation diagnostic of your local government organisation.