A Guidepost for Maintaining Team Trust in a Time of Crisis, COVID-19
/Our niche is in helping teams use conflict and creative tension to increase their performance so they reach objectives faster. Over the years it became clear that without high levels of trust in place as a foundation, heightened conflict competency was an elusive goal.
What is also clear is that during times of crisis, trust can be both easier to build and tougher to maintain.
Easier to build in that the team may have a clear, common enemy to fight against and, with the right leadership, can rally around that common interest to trust each other more. Tougher to maintain because in times of crisis, decisions need to be made fast and with vigor which can result in mistakes made and transparency forgotten.
Even as leadership may be doing the best it can to get through the crisis event with as little damage as possible, the fallout from the effort can be damaging itself. The team can be left feeling unsafe, not trusted, and demoralized, which is the fertile soil in which negative, unproductive conflict thrives.
How to build and maintain team trust to weather any crisis?
We use a tool in our work that helps teams build trust that stays strong through good times as well as times of crisis and change.
Based on analysis and frontline experience, we have developed the Trust Formula as an exercise to help teams get better at trusting each other.
In the current environment of global lockdowns, organizational closures, daily escalations of team changes needed to survive, and daily difficult conversations, the Trust Formula can be used as a guidepost to inform decisions you are making.
Here’s the key to the concept: Given the circumstances and level of risk of a situation, what can you do to consider and enhance as many trust factors as possible?
Step 1: Assess the level of risk of the situation you and your team are facing.
As individuals, every time we are considering the trustworthiness of a person or situation, we are also engaging in risk-assessment. In high-risk situations (i.e., a decision about physical safety, layoff staging, payroll funding), this multiplier will be a large factor in the calculation compared to low-risk situations (i.e., new video conferencing system, opening and closing times, remote video dress code).
The riskier the situation the more focus you and your team needs to put on addressing the trust factors.
Step 2: Understand the factors that influence trust building in you and your team, then weigh the advantages and disadvantages of your potential action based on these trust factors. A “Trust Factor” is a piece of data used to determine the level of trust to apply to a situation.
Higher levels of each of these factors typically mean more trust. Keep in mind that each individual, including yourself, will place different value on each of these.
Benevolence: The quality of being well meaning with the intent to help.
Competence: Having the skills, aptitude, and abilities to accomplish a task or reach an objective.
Integrity / Character: Aligns with the principals of honesty, sincerity, good intent, strong moral principles and respect. The “character” of the someone or something.
Listening / Curiosity: The quality of hearing and paying attention to in order to understand.
Meets Expectations: What is stated happens. There is clarity in what is promised and what is delivered.
Openness / Accuracy: Communication is open and accurate. Straight talk and transparency exist while secrecy or concealment does not exist.
Rules / Laws & Consequences: Rules, laws, and consequences are in force such that the risk of a situation is predictable.
Relative Power / Authority: The influence we have over someone or something, or influence that he/she/it has over us, can affect our decision to trust or not trust.
Safety: The condition of, or threat of, physical and/or psychological harm does not exist.
Similarity / Affinity: Our experiences of similarity or affinity with others or things.
Step 3: Take action with confidence. Trust is the foundational element of any team, and by considering the above steps and acting with them in mind, you will build trust. Crisis or not, you’ve got this!
Given the circumstances and level of risk, what can you do to consider and enhance as many of the trust factors as possible? Here is more information to help you understand the Trust Formula and how this exercise can benefit your organization’s team.
When we join a company, partnership or team, our expectation is that everyone involved will exhibit professional behavior toward us and each other. Instead, it’s highly possible that we may become one of the more than 60 million adults in the United States who are affected in some way by bullying behavior at work.
What kind of behaviors are we talking about? Our definition is any interpersonal behavior that causes emotional distress in others sufficient enough to impede their productivity or disrupt organizational functioning. It isn’t just a personality conflict — it’s a chronic pattern of disrespectful behavior.