The importance of building trust on a team has been well documented.
The integrity of the leader is vitally important to the trust-building process. Leaders need to be honest with their team members and treat them with respect at all times.
Once the leader has established and role modeled a positive, trustworthy relationship with the team, then many experts suggest team-building activities including off-site retreats, ropes courses, personality assessments, and exercises like sharing personal histories. The idea is to get to know people outside of their office “persona” and understand them as a “whole person.”
A recent blog about building trust in teams also suggests that team trust grows over time in a “trust loop.” The “trust loop” begins when someone is willing to take a risk within the team – like sharing a wild idea. If their risky “leap” of faith is met in a caring and respectful way, then trust grows. It makes someone else feel more willing to take a “leap.” And if – once again – that “leap” is met respectfully, the trust within the team grows.
This makes a lot of sense. The key is respecting each person’s “leap” of faith. All it takes is one negative experience for people to retreat. The “trust loop” is broken and it takes a lot to build it back up.
Serving on a team of people who trust one another is a great feeling. More than that, teams that trust one another tend to perform at higher levels. Make your team aware of the “trust loop” and start feeding it every chance you have.
*Ideas for this blog taken from: Burkus, D., “The Trust Loop: Why Great Teams Don’t Build Trust -They Reciprocate It,” March 31, 2025.
