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About this lesson
Absence of Trust is one of the five team dysfunctions. In this case, team members are not willing to be vulnerable to each other; they are not asking and giving help, they are not acknowledging mistakes, and they question the intents and motives of team members.
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Quick reference
Absence of Trust
Absence of Trust is one of the five team dysfunctions. In this case, team members are not willing to be vulnerable to each other; they are not asking and giving help, they are not acknowledging mistakes, and they question the intents and motives of team members.
When to use
When team performance and cohesion is lacking, analyse the team for the five dysfunctions. If there is absence of trust, apply the corrective actions to restore trust.
Instructions
To address the team dysfunction of Absence of Trust, you must be able to recognize this condition. The table below contrast the absence of trust with the presence of trust.
Trust
Tools for Overcoming the Absence of Trust
The following tools are commonly used by teams to overcome the absence of trust.
- Personal Histories: Team members share same aspects of their history or background.
- Team Effectiveness: Identify the most important contribution that each team makes and what they must improve.
- Personality tests such as DISC or Myers Briggs.
- 360° feedback.
- Experiential team activities.
- 00:04 Hello, I'm Ray Sheen.
- 00:05 Let's look at the first of the five team dysfunctions, absence of trust.
- 00:10 I'll begin by describing trust within a team.
- 00:15 One indication is that team members have confidence that the other team members'
- 00:19 intentions are good.
- 00:20 They're working for team success, not personal glory.
- 00:24 Another indication is that they are willing to be vulnerable with each other.
- 00:28 By that I mean that they acknowledge that they are not perfect.
- 00:31 They make mistakes, they have weaknesses and shortcomings,
- 00:34 and sometimes they have to ask for help.
- 00:36 Not everyone on the team will normally be able to recognize these vulnerabilities,
- 00:40 but team members don't pretend that they don't exist.
- 00:43 They acknowledge them and work through them.
- 00:46 Another point about vulnerabilities,
- 00:48 team members do not use them against each other.
- 00:51 They are not points of ridicule, they are areas that are supported.
- 00:56 To bring this dysfunction of absence of trust into sharper clarity,
- 01:00 let me contrast the presence of trust and
- 01:02 the absence of trust in terms of team characteristics.
- 01:06 When trust is present team members admit weaknesses and mistakes and
- 01:10 are ready to ask for help.
- 01:11 In fact, they're willing to leverage the abilities and
- 01:13 skills of other team members to improve team performance.
- 01:17 Team members will take risks, and whether the risks will work out or not,
- 01:20 they will seek and accept feedback about the situation.
- 01:24 They give each other the benefit of the doubt before jumping to conclusions.
- 01:28 They accept input about their areas of responsibilities and
- 01:31 are willing to answer questions without taking offence.
- 01:34 The focus of their time and energy on the team Is team performance and
- 01:38 issues, not team gossip and politics.
- 01:42 To that end, they are ready to book offer and
- 01:44 accept apologies if they've offended someone on the team.
- 01:47 Because of their positive engagement with the team,
- 01:50 they look forward to team meetings as productive and energizing events.
- 01:55 Now let's contrast that list with the list associated with the absence of
- 01:58 trust on a team.
- 01:59 When there is no trust, team members feel they must protect themselves.
- 02:03 Therefore, they conceal any weaknesses or mistakes.
- 02:06 They don't ask for help or offer help because that could make them vulnerable.
- 02:10 They don't offer any positive or
- 02:12 constructive feedback because they know it will either be rejected or misinterpreted.
- 02:16 A sort of paranoia sets in, and
- 02:18 everyone jumps to conclusions about the intentions of others.
- 02:22 But keep in mind that team members are looking out for themselves,
- 02:25 not the team, so this paranoia is justified.
- 02:29 Because of the self-centered focus, the team members do not leverage the skills or
- 02:33 abilities of other team members.
- 02:35 Instead, they're often interacting in a way to bring glory and credit for
- 02:39 themselves.
- 02:39 They are trying to create some effect that highlights how great they are.
- 02:44 The selfish behavior results in numerous offenses,
- 02:46 and team members are quick to hold grudges for these.
- 02:49 They have totally lost sight of team goals.
- 02:52 And avoid team meeting unless there is a possibility for them to gain glory or
- 02:56 recognition at the meeting.
- 02:58 Well obviously the picture I painted about the absence of trust is not good.
- 03:03 So what can be done to overcome this problem?
- 03:06 First, let's acknowledge some of the things that are needed to build trust.
- 03:10 It will take time and positive interactions to create trust.
- 03:13 You won't trust someone that you don't know.
- 03:16 These interactions are more powerful for
- 03:18 building trust when there are shared experiences.
- 03:21 That is one of the reasons why many organizations will take a team
- 03:24 off site for team building activities.
- 03:26 To create a common set of experiences that can be used as a springboard for
- 03:31 building trust.
- 03:33 Further, it’s very helpful for
- 03:34 team members to see each others' unique strength and abilities.
- 03:38 These unique abilities can help each person be special and
- 03:40 different while still being in the team.
- 03:43 They're not competing against each other, they're complementing each other.
- 03:47 Some of the tools that I've used over the years to build trust
- 03:50 include personal histories where everyone shares stories from their background.
- 03:54 This will help to find bonds of affinity and a better appreciation for differences.
- 03:58 Another technique is team effectiveness evaluations where each member’s
- 04:02 contribution is better understood.
- 04:04 Of course, there are the personality tests, like Myers Briggs or DISC.
- 04:08 They help team members understand why some people act the way they do and
- 04:12 that it is actually a good thing for some individuals to be different.
- 04:15 360 degree feedback has recently been very popular.
- 04:19 This is where an individual gets feedback on their performance, both technically and
- 04:23 as a team member, from their boss, their peers, and
- 04:27 their direct reports, if they have any.
- 04:29 This is a great way for team members to get and receive feedback.
- 04:33 And of course, as already mentioned,
- 04:35 there are the group experiential team building sessions.
- 04:38 Teams that lack trust will quickly spiral down into defensive,
- 04:43 paranoid behavior and poor performance.
- 04:47 Fortunately, there are number of ways to begin building trust.
- 04:51 When this is your team's dysfunction, start using some of those tools.
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