No one is suggesting that trust is not valuable. As a bonding agent it creates magic for team members and businesses, particularly in stressful environments.
A challenge occurs, however, when teammates operate from the premise that creating trust with other people requires time. Because extra time is not something anyone has in abundance.
As a result, trust – specifically, the lack of trust – becomes a top excuse for not working well with others:
- “We’d collaborate more effectively if we trusted one another.”
- “If we trusted one another, we’d be more transparent.”
This approach brings teams to a choice: Slow down the current pace of business to develop more time-built trust. Or rethink what it means to trust one another.
Research makes it clear time-built trust may not be required for people to work well together. In fact, insisting on trust as a criterion for success can backfire. For example, team members who have been told to prioritize trust begin to withhold ugly data from team members, in the spirit of preserving trust.
It was once believed that business moved at the speed of trust. Today, however, business speeds at a pace that eclipses time-built trust. The business cannot wait or afford for you to team effectively only with those with whom you have stablished time-built trust.
Business now moves at the speed of granted trust:
- I assume your motives are pure.
- I believe we both want the same thing: value for our customer.
- I value that you think and do things differently than I do.
- We both have made mistakes in the past; perfection is not my criteria for excellence.
- Giving you my best is not conditional on you giving me your best.
- I’ll go first.
Granting trust to another means you will be vulnerable. It is, however, less risky than working in a business where people think time is required for successfully working with others.
P.S. I’m excited about hosting Ahmet Tezel, VP of Ethicon R&D on our 50-minute Activation Session this Thursday, May 26, at 11:00 a.m. EST. We’ll explore how successful leaders create greater cultures of candor to increase the speed with which they deliver products to market. You can register for free here. (And if you can’t attend, we’ll send you a recording.)
