​Let’s talk about trust. ?

I often get called into help squabbling senior leadership teams work out their differences. Whether they are B,C,D or V suite executives, the core problem is always the same…

A LACK OF TRUST! 😕

✔️ In each other.
✔️ In their manager.
✔️ In the senior leaders.

Or sometimes, all of the above.

When teams don’t trust each other…

• They don’t respect each other
• There is a lack of tolerance for each other
• There is a fear of conflict
• There is a lack of lively debate
• Their comments are guarded
• They don’t speak their minds
• They won’t admit mistakes
• They refuse to show weakness or vulnerability
• They are not prepared to hold each other accountable
• They don’t buy in to group decisions
• They often have their own agendas
• Their meetings are unproductive (ever sat in a meeting and thought ‘this is a complete waste of time?’)
• They don’t commit to team goals

❌ All of the above ultimately leads to a lack of results, a disempowered & unhappy team and high staff attrition.

To be honest, I’ve yet to come across a senior management team where everyone gets on perfectly. The problem is always down to a lack of trust. Yes, there may be others things going on but when you strip it all back, a lack of trust is usually the core problem.

So how do you solve it? If you are a leader with a squabbling team, here are my top 15 tips on how to build trust in a team.

1. Bring me in to help 😊
2. Read\listen to ‘5 dysfunctions of a Team’
3. Establish your ‘rules of the game’. What culture are you creating?
4. Be prepared to be vulnerable and admit mistakes yourself
5. Use DISC profiling to help the team understand how to communicate with each other
6. Encourage openness & honesty
7. Organise team building exercises
8. Discuss the ‘elephants’ in the room
9. Allow the team to engage in healthy conflict
10. Be comfortable with the prospect of making mistakes
11. Ensure everyone has their say and is heard. Your team is more likely to ‘buy in’ if they have ‘weighed in’!
12. Keep control of meetings, especially with stronger personalities
13. Adopt a ‘disagree and commit’ mentality
14. End & start meetings with ‘who does what by when’ accountability
15. Not sure on how to do the above? See point 1 above! 😊

What about you? Any of the above resonate? Have you have worked in a dysfunctional team? Need any help with a squabbling team or a team that doesn’t get on? Drop me a message or book a free, no pressure diagnostic session.

#DISC #managementskills #leadership #team #management #csuite #NGO #Charities #nonprofit #nonprofitorganization