How to Rein in Two Key Trust Disrupters
Trust. It is a fragile thing, and yet it is the X-factor for high performing teams. Recognizing what builds trust and what breaks it are key insights every leader (and aspiring top-performer) needs to understand.
Many of the executive team engagements I have include a trust component in the design of our work together. Why? Great strategy and performance flows from open, creative teams that challenge each other’s ideas while valuing one another’s points of view.
As I work with these teams two trust disrupters emerge as the top culprits of broken trust: technology and time.
Technology Breaks Trust
Technology breaks trust in many ways.
Emails are sent when a live conversation via phone call, skype, or quick trip down the hall is more appropriate. Others are cc on messages in order to protect the sender or to sandbag colleagues, when having a direct conversation about needs and concerns would protect relationships and build trust.
But there is an even subtler way that trust is broken by technology:
The simple presence of electronics undermines trust.
A 2014 Study by Virginia Tech researchers (Misra, Cheng, Genvie, Yuan) found that simply the presence of electronics undermines empathy in a conversation. The best experience reported was a live conversation without technology. The empathy level reported by conversation participants fell once a phone was present and in view, even if it was left sitting on the table. This was true even when these individuals were close friends.
Imagine what is happening then, if the person with the cell phone is your boss. As you might imagine, the presence of technology in work conversations disrupts even more than the empathy being experienced, it undermines trust and negatively impacts employee engagement, according to a 2016 Baylor University Study (Roberts, David).
The antidote:
1. put the phone away (as in out of sight) during meetings;
2. designate a specific time during the meeting for consulting smart phones to coordinate schedules and check any needed references;
3. silence your phone during meetings;
4. if you must have access to your phone for an emergency situation, report this to your colleagues at the outset of the meeting so that everyone understands the need for it
Time Breaks Trust
Trust is built over time with repeated consistent experiences of positive engagements with others.
Every time a project is delivered on time, trust grows.
Every time a conversation is engaged instead of ignored, trust grows.
Every time questions are asked instead of making assumptions, trust grows.
But the Trust Break that I hear most repeated by leaders at every level is the break of trust caused by a cancelled or re-scheduled 1:1 meeting with a subordinate.
IF you want a high performing team, schedule your 1:1’s regularly and at a time that you protect. People need to be engaged by their leaders, and the only thing more de-valuing than looking at your phone while talking with someone is not meeting with them at all.
I recently had a senior level leader report, with bright frustration:
“My leader has rescheduled our 1:1 five times in the last six months. I have not had 1:1 time for months, and so I sat in the office waiting for 20 minutes of our 30 minute appointment. ‘We can reschedule’ was the statement made when they arrived late, to which I said, ‘No. I have been here 20 minutes. I have things I need to discuss with you. Let’s take the 8 minutes we have left and talk the key items through.’ There was no way, after all that time waiting, and so many months of not meeting that I was going to miss the time completely.”
The rage and frustration were palpable, as was the confusion. And I could sense that underneath all this was sadness and regret. As the time went by and this behavior from leadership continued I could also see the creativity and energy of this high performer begin to flag, until resignation began to sit in.
Being too busy to meet regularly with your team is a recipe for disengagement and births no creativity, only resignation, in the workplace.
It is simply disrespectful to ignore people who report to you. The feelings created by a leader’s absence or lack of engagement with their team gets in the way of the people being swift, clear, and productive in their work. Ultimately, this absence of communication inhibits everyone’s performance.
Some say it takes a lot of effort to build a high-performing team. Does it really? Or does it take a few simple things?
There are three things you can do every day that build trust among colleagues, on teams, and with the people who report to you, as well as with the person you report to:
1. Have regularly scheduled 1:1’s with your direct reports. Monthly at a minimum.
2. Keep your meetings with your team members. Rescheduling should be rare and for significant reasons that you communicate to them.
3. When you meet with people, put the technology away.
Try it and see what happens to your engagement levels, to the trust on your team, and to the momentum of your organization. Bonus points can also be earned by making eye contact in those meetings!
