7 ways to build trust in a team – a guide to strategies and my own experiences

How to build trust and what it is needed for

Today, I see trust as the foundation of a successful team. However, when I started my entrepreneurial adventure, I didn’t fully realize the impact that building relationships based on trust would have on organizational culture. Over time, I have come to understand that trust is the invisible glue that binds people together and allows them to achieve goals beyond their individual capabilities.

Building trust is a process that doesn’t happen overnight. It is a long-term activity that requires patience, consistency, and commitment. It can be compared to tending a garden – it is not enough to simply plant seeds and forget about them. A garden needs to be watered, fertilized, pruned, and weeded on a regular basis for it to thrive and show its beauty. If these daily chores are neglected, the plants may wither and the garden will lose its charm.

The same thing happens with trust – it needs constant attention and care. Every day we have the opportunity to strengthen relationships with our team through small gestures, honest conversations, and overcoming challenges together. If we neglect these activities, trust will begin to erode, and rebuilding it will be much more difficult than when we started.

If you think you’re in complete control of the issue of trust in your organization, it’s worth taking a look at the PwC Trust Survey 2024 report before making such a pronouncement. The survey results show that leaders often overestimate the level of trust in their teams.

86% of managers say they have a high level of trust in their employees, but only 60% of employees feel highly trusted.

I remember during one of the panel discussions held at the Project Management Institute, I had the pleasure of talking about what companies need to successfully transform their organization. One of the most important elements I pointed out was the diagram below:

I drew it right after reading a report by the firm O.C. Tanner. Tanner, which studies employee engagement and how managers can improve the work environment, I found a very interesting conclusion.

When asked, „What is the most important thing a manager or company can do to make you work better?”, 37% of respondents said they simply wanted to be noticed.

They did not expect a new computer, more money, or extra vacation days. They wanted their work and who they were as people to be seen as an integral part of their work lives.

Relationships are based on noticing people and communicating openly and honestly, especially in difficult moments. For these relationships to be authentic and for participants to feel empowered, we need to build mutual trust with them.

While this may seem relatively simple to implement, it is much more difficult in practice. According to Gallup’s 2023 report, only 23% of employees say they trust the leaders in their organizations.

Although, as the chart shows, confidence has risen modestly over the past decade (with a dip during the pandemic), it has never reached spectacular heights.

The highest level of confidence ever recorded was only 24%. A significant drop was observed in June 2022, during the Great Resurgence, when the rate was 20%. Since then, it has gradually increased to 23%.

This disturbing finding got me thinking about what we as leaders can do to build more trust among our teams.

Interestingly, employers are no longer judged as critically as their leaders.

The 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report: Trust at Work shows that employees have the most trust in their employer (79%), which exceeds trust in other institutions such as business (66%), NGOs (57%), government (55%) and the media (52%).

Level of trust

Column chart. Data table with 5 rows and 2 columns follows.

Level of trust

Employers	79%
Business	66%
NGOS	57%
Government	55%
Media	52%

In such an environment, where uncertainty and change have become commonplace, is it possible to rebuild trust in leaders?

In this publication, I want to share my experiences and insights on building trust. Together, we will explore not only the benefits, but also the strategies that any leader can implement with his or her team. Using research, data, and real-life examples, we will try to understand why trust is so important and how to build it effectively.

The importance of leaders building trust and its benefits

In my daily work with teams, I have found that trust is the cornerstone of a healthy organization. Whether with employees, customers or business partners. Without it, even the best goals or strategies can remain unrealized and the organization’s potential untapped.

A story from life – the impact of management affects trust

A good example of lack of results due to lack of confidence is a technology startup I had the opportunity to mentor many years ago. Despite a great solution and a talented team, the company was not delivering the results that investors expected. This led to an increasingly tense atmosphere. After several mentoring sessions, I realized that the main problem was the team members’ lack of trust in the company’s founder, Arek (name changed).

Arek held two roles at the startup. He was both CEO and CTO, managing the entire company and its technology stack. Developers and marketing felt ignored. Their ideas were not considered, and the CEO made decisions without consulting them. In addition, they were often wrong, which caused more and more anger. People on the team did not know where these decisions were coming from and felt that their project, which they had worked on together in the beginning, was starting to resemble a dictatorship.

The lack of trust was due to the imbalance in aspects that Charles Green describes in his trust equation (which I will describe in more detail at the end of the article). While the team had high credibility in terms of knowledge and competence, there was a lack of reliability and closeness in the relationship between the leader and the team. This led to low levels of commitment and mutual support. Credibility without reliability and closeness is not enough to build trust in a team.

I asked Arek what was driving his behavior. He replied that it was largely driven by a desire to get things done and close quickly. He claimed that this need came from both pressure and the fact that he had absorbed this way of doing things from other founders at conferences or startup meetings.

After our conversation, I decided to show Ark how his leadership influence affected the entire team. I showed him tools and new ways to be an empathetic and servant leader, and talked about how healthy lines of authority work in organizations. Arek quickly understood the impact of his leadership style and committed to implementing more transparency, open communication, and involving team members in decision making.

When we met for coffee six months later, he talked about the positive changes his behavior modification had brought about. The company began to perform better (8% revenue growth), and investors, for whom the team is one of the most important factors in a startup’s success, appreciated the changes that were taking place.

Confidence at work in a leader affects productivity and commitment

A study, The Neuroscience of Trust, conducted by Paul Zak and published in the Harvard Business Review, confirms how trust has a significant impact on various aspects of business.

It turns out that in organizations with high levels of trust, employees are 50% more productive and 76% more engaged than in organizations with low levels of trust.

Zak also points to benefits such as lower stress levels, greater job satisfaction and stronger bonds between employees. Trust also fosters greater innovation, as employees are more willing to take risks and seek new solutions in an atmosphere of support and acceptance.

Dirks and Ferrin’s research is also worth noting.

The publication Trust in leadership: meta-analytic findings and implications for research and practice, shows that there is a strong, positive correlation between trust in leaders and the willingness to take responsibility for their tasks, including exceeding their duties and seeking new solutions and active participation in the life of the company.

Another relevant study that supports these findings is the Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) analysis.

Breevaart, Bakker, Demerouti and Van den Heuvel found that a high level of leader-member trust leads to higher engagement and more effective work.

Trust is important not only for good collaboration, but also for employee engagement and loyalty. In addition, a lack of trust between leaders and teams negatively affects the quality of service throughout the organization.

According to the PWC report, 42% of executives cite decreased productivity as the biggest risk when employees do not trust their employer. The next highest risks are product and service quality (41%), operational efficiency (40%) and profitability (38%).

Risks from lack of trust

Polar chart. Data table with 4 rows and 2 columns follows.

Risks from lack of trust

Decrease in productivity	42%
Decrease in quality of products and services	41%
Decrease in fossil fuel efficiency	40%
Decrease in profitability	38%

Trust also affects organizational culture.

In my experience, open and honest communication is more likely to occur in an environment where employees trust their leaders. When employees feel safe, they are more likely to share ideas and concerns. When they know that the mistakes they make will be treated as learning opportunities rather than a reason for punishment, they are more willing to experiment. This, in turn, leads to more innovation and faster problem solving.

This thesis is supported by Amy Edmondson’s research on psychological safety. The author introduced the concept, defining it as a shared belief among team members that they can express their thoughts without fear of negative consequences.

In her study, „Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams,” Edmondson analyzed 51 teams in a manufacturing company, showing that teams with high levels of psychological safety are more likely to engage in open communication, share ideas and learn from mistakes.

The study also found that in teams where employees feel safe, they are more likely to learn, ask for feedback, admit mistakes, and seek help. Edmondson also found that psychological safety has a positive impact on team effectiveness. This is because employees are more likely to seek out solutions that can improve the work of the entire team.

It is also worth emphasizing the important role of the leader in creating such an environment. Research by Detert J.R. and Burris E.R. has shown that a supportive leadership style has a significant impact on creating an atmosphere of trust and safety.

The publication, „Leadership behavior and employee voice: Is the door really open?„, indicates that a leader who offers support to the team and creates space for open discussion makes team members feel safe and free to express their opinions. In contrast, a dominant leadership style can limit openness, even when a certain level of trust exists.

It is also worth noting that in workplaces where decision-making is perceived as fair and management is data-driven, employees are more likely to accept decisions even if they disagree with them.

This phenomenon is described in Kim and Mauborgn’s study Fair Process: Managing in the Knowledge Economy.

According to the authors, the most important elements of a decision-making process that is considered fair are

1. Involving employees in the decision-making process – People who have the opportunity to voice their opinions and participate in the process feel respected, even if their ideas are not ultimately implemented. Such participation builds a sense of shared responsibility for the outcome of decisions.
2. Transparency – Open communication about the criteria for making decisions and how they will be implemented helps employees understand why a particular decision was made. Transparency prevents speculation and the growth of mistrust within the team.
3. Explaining why – Leaders who take the time to explain why a decision was made and the basis for it help reduce employee resistance. These explanations give the impression that the process was thorough and thoughtful.

It should be added that data-driven management reinforces this effect, as decisions are made based on sound analysis and facts, not subjective feelings or opinions. Teams see that their actions are measured against specific indicators, which builds trust in the system and promotes greater acceptance of decisions.

Employee trust in leaders has a direct impact on teams’ relationships with customers

When a team works in harmony with its leader and their relationship is based on mutual trust, team members are better able to respond to customer needs and build long-term relationships with customers. This, in turn, leads to better financial performance for the organization.

Fred Reichheld’s study „The One Number You Need to Grow” on the Net Promoter Score (NPS) shows that customer loyalty is closely linked to employee engagement and satisfaction. Reichheld found that a key indicator of customer loyalty is the willingness to recommend a company to others, which directly translates into increased revenue.

Interestingly, the study found that customers who are enthusiastic about a company and willing to recommend it to their friends are the primary drivers of a company’s financial growth. On the other hand, employees who trust and feel supported by their leaders are more likely to provide exceptional customer service.

Reichheld also noted that loyal customers often become brand ambassadors, recommending the brand’s products or services to new customers. Only the most dedicated are willing to risk their own reputations, making such referrals extremely valuable to a company’s growth.

Trust influences employee well-being

Finally, trust translates into employee well-being.

According to a study by The Neuroscience of Trust indicates that in a high-trust environment, employees report 74% less stress, have 106% more energy at work, 50% higher productivity, 13% fewer sick days, 76% higher engagement, 29% higher life satisfaction, and 40% less job burnout compared to those working in low-trust companies.

As with organizational culture, a leader’s work style plays an important role here.

The study, „Linking Ethical Leadership to Employee Well-Being: The Role of Trust in Supervisor,” published in the Journal of Business Ethics, indicates that ethical leadership that builds trust leads to higher engagement and lower levels of emotional exhaustion among employees.

And the study, „Understanding the effect of leadership styles on employee well-being through leader-member exchange,” shows that leaders who use a transformational leadership style that builds trust by supporting and inspiring employees positively affect their well-being, lowering stress levels and increasing job satisfaction.

Such an environment also promotes greater stability within the organization. Employees who work in an atmosphere of trust are more loyal, less likely to change jobs, and more efficient and productive. This results in lower costs associated with employee turnover and absenteeism.

Challenges in building trust in organizations

Although the benefits of trust are undeniable, many organizations struggle to build it. In my experience, the process is complex and often faces obstacles that may not be obvious at first glance.

A crisis of trust in leadership caused by a lack of relationships

Building trust must start at the top, especially in hybrid and remote teams.

According to DDI’s Global Leadership Forecast 2023 report, only 46% of leaders say they strongly trust their direct reports and believe they will do the right thing. Even more troubling, only 32% of leaders trust those higher up in their organization.

One reason is a lack of authenticity on the part of leaders. When communication is superficial or based on generalities, employees can feel uninformed and disrespected.

Another aspect is a lack of commitment on the part of leaders to build relationships with the team.

When leaders focus solely on results and overlook the need to build relationships, trust naturally diminishes.

Employees need to feel that their leaders are available and interested in their development.

A story from life – no relationship, no trust

A good example is a story that happened a few years ago. A good friend of mine, Marcelina (name changed), ran a service company specializing in employee benefit programs for small and medium-sized businesses.

Marcelina noticed that despite the growing number of clients, the satisfaction surveys for the services offered were not at the expected level. During our conversation, she showed me the results of her report and asked for my help in identifying the reasons.

Without hesitation, I asked her about her relationship with her team. I was puzzled by the fact that she never once mentioned that she had already spoken to members of her team to get their perspective on the issue. Marcelina sadly admitted that she did not have a very close relationship with her employees. Her main focus was on the strategic development of the company.

So I suggested that she look for solutions by communicating directly with the people in the company. I suggested that she conduct a „pulse check” of the organization to gauge the mood and opinions of the people who primarily drive customer service.

Since Marcelina was concerned that employees might not be open in face-to-face conversations, I suggested that the survey take the form of an anonymous questionnaire. This would allow employees to freely express their opinions and suggestions without fear of repercussions.

The survey revealed tensions and lack of cooperation between the sales and service departments that Marcelina was not aware of. The sales representative, Anna (name changed), volunteered that she had specific ideas for improvements that could enhance the customer experience. Unfortunately, the person in charge of service delivery, Peter (name withheld), was not interested in her feedback, stating that „it’s not her job to suggest changes and she shouldn’t get involved.

Anna wanted to talk to Marcelina about everything, but felt intimidated. Without a direct relationship with the business owner, she didn’t know how to approach the issue. Had Marcelina built a relationship with Anna earlier, she would have known about the problem immediately and been able to take action.

Understanding the seriousness of the situation, Marcelina decided to strengthen her relationship with her team. She organized a meeting where she presented the results of the survey and encouraged everyone to have an open discussion. She emphasized that every voice was important to her and that she wanted to work together to improve the company’s operations.

Feeling supported by Marcelina, Anna shared her ideas for improvement. She suggested that better communication and automation of certain processes between the sales and service departments could significantly improve the customer experience. Peter, initially skeptical, began to see the value in her suggestions.

Low motivation to take on leadership roles leads to choosing the wrong leaders

Last spring, while browsing the HackerNews website for interesting and inspiring content, I came across an article with a catchy title – „17 reasons not to be a manager.” In it, the author debunked the notion that power is a powerful magic wand that can be waved to fix everything.

The article highlighted the challenges of being a leader and emphasized that it is not a path for everyone. According to the author, being a leader means

• Responsibility for people, not just tasks, which requires concern for the development, motivation and well-being of the team, as well as empathy and interpersonal skills that don’t always come naturally to everyone,
• Losing touch with the operational/technical work and distancing from the day-to-day tasks that once brought satisfaction can be a source of frustration for many professionals,
• A tremendous increase in stress and responsibility as managers must make difficult decisions, manage conflict, and take responsibility for the team’s mistakes, often leading to professional burnout,
• Lack of clear indicators of success – Success in a leadership role is often harder to measure than in individual tasks, which can lead to a sense of uncertainty about one’s own effectiveness,
• Misunderstanding of the role by those around them – there is a misconception that managers have more freedom and privilege, when in fact their work involves greater burdens and responsibilities.

Concerns about the lack of people willing to take on leadership roles are also supported by research.

The DDI report shows that only 12% of organizations are confident in the strength of their leadership pipeline, indicating that fewer and fewer people are interested in taking on leadership roles.

This may be due to job burnout and a lack of meaning at work. Many potential leaders fear the added responsibility and stress of leading a team.

When I wondered if organizations were appointing the wrong people to leadership positions due to a lack of willingness, I found the answer in a Gallup report.

According to the Global Performance Management Report 2023, only 12% of leaders can provide quality coaching and feedback, and only 23% can set challenging goals. The lack of these skills translates into difficulties in effectively managing and developing teams.

The 2023 study, titled „The Changing Face of Leadership Development: Trends and Challenges,” found that organizations face significant challenges in developing leaders, including the problem of selecting the right people for leadership positions. The changing role of leaders, including the need to integrate employees from diverse backgrounds (on-site, remote, hybrid), and the rapid development of technology, including artificial intelligence, are increasing the need for specific leadership skills, such as emotional intelligence, social intelligence and empathy.

While research does not show this directly, I can say from my own observations that many companies promote leaders based on their performance in previous roles rather than on their leadership skills. As a result, those promoted to leadership positions often do not have the right skills to lead a team.

It is worth recalling Peter’s principle from 1969.

In hierarchical organizations, everyone is promoted until they reach their own threshold of incompetence. This means that people who have been in leadership positions for a long time can be incompetent.

In light of the aforementioned studies, which point to a lack of resources and time for adequate leadership training and insufficient personalization of development programs, it can be concluded that this is one of the reasons for the current situation.

My experience with confidence building

Throughout my career, I have searched for effective ways to build trust within a team, mostly on my own. I have found that the teams I have worked with or mentored have had the best results when their members trusted their leaders. As I mentioned earlier, true trust cannot be built without building a relationship with the other person.

According to the Global Leadership Forecast 2023, leaders who regularly show their weaknesses are 5.3 times more likely to build trust among their employees, and those who admit their shortcomings are 7.5 times more likely to maintain trust.

Without authentic, empathetic leadership based on relationships, it is impossible to achieve the level of trust that allows people to freely express their thoughts and ideas.

Over the years of my work, I have identified several key behaviors that have a significant impact on building trust.

Listening and responding with empathy.

In my daily work, I strive to be an active and fully present listener, trying to understand the other person’s perspective. I always try to respond to the needs of team members. This builds a sense of understanding and mutual support. However, sometimes I don’t succeed – like everyone, I have worse days and there are times when I get distracted. In these situations, I don’t pretend that everything is fine, but I tell them straight out that I missed something. This allows me to be myself with others, to be authentic.

I also regularly check in with team members about their well-being, both professionally and personally. I do this with genuine intention and a desire to find out how they are doing in their daily lives. This shows team members that I care about them as people, not just results. In my regular feedback survey that I ask people to complete, this is one of the things they appreciate most.

Practical steps:

• implement an open door policy,
• during meetings, focus on the other person – don’t interrupt and try to understand their perspective,
• treat disagreements as opportunities to learn and better understand each other,
• when someone on the team is facing challenges, offer support – both professionally and, when appropriate, personally,
• respect each other’s privacy boundaries and never disclose confidential information without permission.

Giving employees autonomy and opportunities for growth is an important part of building trust within a team.

I do not like to tell team members how to do their jobs. I am also a strong opponent of micromanagement. This approach can be uncomfortable for both the employee and the manager, and in the long run it tends to build relationships based on fear rather than mutual trust. It also limits self-development. Therefore, in my daily work, I try to systematically increase autonomy in the organization by defining new roles in both larger and smaller areas of responsibility. These roles don’t just have to be about project issues, but also about operational or administrative issues.

With a distributed organizational structure, decisions can be made much faster and more efficiently than ever before. Teams and individuals have a direct impact on the development of the organization, they are trusted, and they build it.

Practical steps:

• delegate tasks with full responsibility, and instead of controlling every step of the work, delegate entire projects or parts of them to team members,
• avoid micromanaging and try not to interfere with work methods unless there is a compelling reason to do so,
• encourage decision-making, speak up at the end, and offer support when needed,
• in situations that require quick action, communicate the need for urgency while showing understanding of the team’s adjustment process.

Share thoughts and rationale for decisions

I have always tried to be transparent about the motivations behind the decisions we make. This helps the team understand the context and the goals we are pursuing. Honesty may not be what everyone likes, but it is certainly what allows us to achieve more than operating in an imaginary and idealized reality. It’s worth establishing a routine of regular and open synchronization meetings in the organization, where teams can find out what’s really going on in the company.

Authentic communication is especially important, but also extremely difficult in the age of remote or hybrid work.

Practical steps:

• communicate regularly and institute meetings where the entire company can share company news or progress on projects,
• share both successes and failures, and talk openly about challenges.

Encourage people to question the status quo and admit their own mistakes

Throughout my career, I have tried to foster a culture where anyone can challenge the status quo and suggest new approaches. I do the same in my personal life, encouraging everyone in my family to speak up when something is not working. I believe that the greatest beneficial changes come from having the courage to think differently and to ask difficult and even extreme questions, as I wrote about in one of my articles.

But when we question something and want to change it, the truth is that we won’t always succeed. No one is infallible. That’s why when I complete tasks, I try to learn from them in public and be open about when something went wrong. This shows that mistakes are part of the learning process and encourages team members to do the same. In this way, we build mutual trust and solve problems faster.

Practical steps:

• openly admit mistakes, and when you do something wrong, inform the team and conduct an analysis of what can be done better in the future,
• encourage the sharing of lessons learned to create a culture where mistakes are viewed as a source of knowledge rather than shame,
• demonstrate by example that development is a process in which we all participate, regardless of our position.

Respect the time of others and be punctual

One of the most important elements of building your credibility, which leads directly to trust, is respecting other people’s time. I have found that to some people, being regularly late to meetings may seem like a minor transgression. In reality, however, it seriously undermines the trust that team members have in us. When a leader is regularly late, it sends a signal that he or she does not respect the time of others and is incapable of managing his or her own time. This can lead to frustration within the team and a lowering of the leader’s authority.

Practical steps:

• plan your day carefully, taking into account the time it takes to move between meetings (and while you work) and potential delays,
• avoid overloading yourself with meetings,
• if you know you may be late, let people know in advance,
• show your team that punctuality is important to you to encourage others to adopt a similar attitude,
• start and end meetings on time, stick to the agenda, and do not prolong discussions unnecessarily.

Share information from your personal life in a balanced way

Another thing I strongly recommend when building trust is to share aspects of your personal life as appropriate. This approach can make a significant difference in building trust within a team. When leaders are authentic and open about their experiences, it allows team members to better understand them and build deeper relationships. However, it is important to do this in a balanced way, maintaining professionalism and respecting the boundaries of privacy.

My personal experience has shown that by sharing information about my disease, a severe form of hemophilia, I have found that the team understands how I feel better. There’s also an understanding that if I can’t do something, it’s because of health issues and not because I’m lazy. This honesty has helped build deeper trust and understanding within the team, and has encouraged others to share their challenges openly.

Practical steps:

• be open about your experiences, but maintain an appropriate level of professionalism,
• avoid oversharing private details that may be uncomfortable for others or unrelated to work,
• encourage team members to share their experiences, creating an atmosphere of mutual support and understanding,
• ensure that everyone feels comfortable and is not pressured to share information they do not want to share.

Recognize and appreciate the team’s achievements

I find that regularly recognizing team members’ efforts and accomplishments goes a long way toward building trust and motivation. When employees feel that their work is noticed and appreciated, their commitment and sense of belonging to the organization increases. It’s all about sincere words of appreciation and thanks for contributions to team, departmental, or organization-wide goals.

Practical steps:

• take the time to have one-on-one conversations that highlight a person’s strengths and recognize their contributions,
• recognize team members publicly, such as during group meetings.

Additional trust-building concepts and models that can help you in your daily work

Simon Sinek’s lecture: Trust versus efficiency

One of the most interesting talks I had the opportunity to hear on building trust was given by Simon Sinek. He presented a model of the relationship between trust and effectiveness. Sinek points out that organizations often promote people based on their performance, neglecting the aspect of trust that other team members have in them.

In Sinek’s model, employees are evaluated on two axes:

• efficiency – how well someone performs their tasks,
• trust – how trustworthy a person is and whether others can rely on him or her.

Sinek emphasizes that ideal leaders are those who are both highly effective and trustworthy. In practice, however, companies often tolerate individuals who are highly effective but untrustworthy, which can be detrimental to organizational culture.

Charles Green’s Confidence Equation

Another valuable tool that can help you in your daily work is the Confidence Equation developed by Charles Green:

$\mathrm{Trust}=\frac{\mathrm{Credibility}\mathrm{Reliability}\mathrm{Proximity}}{\mathrm{Focus\; on\; self}}$

Where:

• credibility means whether I have the knowledge and competence to build trust,
• reliability, whether I consistently keep my promises and deadlines,
• closeness, what kind of relationships I build with team members, whether I am available to them,
• self-centeredness, meaning the more I focus on my own goals at the expense of the team, the lower the trust.

Using this model can help you identify areas you need to work on. For example, you may find that in the busyness of your responsibilities, you sometimes neglect direct contact with your team, which negatively affects closeness and trust.

Psychological Safety by Amy Edmondson

The concept of psychological safety, developed by Amy Edmondson, emphasizes the importance of creating an environment in which employees feel safe to speak up and make mistakes.

In practice, this means:

• encouraging open communication without fear of negative consequences,
• treating mistakes as opportunities to learn rather than to punish,
• showing empathy and understanding for different perspectives.

If you don’t know where to start, you can try introducing rules to increase psychological safety, such as not judging team members during brainstorming sessions and valuing everyone’s contribution.

Five dysfunctions of Patrick Lencioni’s team

Patrick Lencioni, in his book „The Five Dysfunctions of Teamwork,„ points out that lack of trust is the basic dysfunction that leads to more problems:

1. lack of trust,
2. fear of conflict,
3. lack of commitment,
4. avoidance of responsibility,
5. lack of concern for results.

Understanding this hierarchy will help you identify the causes of some of your team’s problems.

Trust based on empathy and sensitivity Brené Brown

Brené Brown emphasizes the importance of sensitivity and authenticity in leadership. Leaders who can admit their mistakes and show their human side build deeper relationships with their team. You can listen to her talk on the TED platform.

Servant leadership by Robert Greenleaf

I had the opportunity to write about this in my article „Servant leadership. How does being a leader mean serving others?„. This concept implies that a leader should serve his or her team by putting their needs ahead of his or her own ambitions. People-centered leadership is a beautiful but demanding model of collaboration. It requires great self-awareness, the ability to manage one’s emotions, and the ability to plan, prioritize, and maintain a balance between the needs of the team and the goals of the organization.

In practice, it means:

• supporting the development of team members,
• facilitating work by removing obstacles,
• listening and responding to the needs of the team.

Here you will find interesting lectures on the subject – this is several hours of material, providing a full compendium of knowledge:

If you don’t have that much time, Simon Sinek explains it in 5 minutes:

Stephen M.R. Covey’s Speed of Confidence

In his book The Speed of Trust, Stephen M.R. Covey points out that trust acts as a catalyst, speeding up processes and lowering the cost of collaboration. Covey describes 13 behaviors that you, as a leader, can develop to build trust, including

• speak directly,
• show respect,
• be transparent,
• right wrongs instead of just apologizing,
• show loyalty by talking about people as if they were present,
• achieve results,
• become better through continuous improvement,
• confront reality,
• clarify expectations,
• take responsibility for yourself and your team,
• listen first,
• keep commitments,
• transform trust from a noun into a verb, and continually develop it.

Incorporating these principles into a leader’s daily practice helps build lasting and effective relationships.

Conclusions and recommendations

Through years of observation and experience, I have learned that trust is not only the foundation of effective leadership, but also the key to building lasting and satisfying relationships within a team. I have also realized how important it is, even for nerds and engineers, for leaders to invest in developing people skills such as communication, empathy, and emotional intelligence.

Developing social skills allows you to better understand your team’s needs and build deeper relationships. In addition, fostering a culture of openness and collaboration brings tangible benefits.

It is also important for leaders to be authentic and transparent. Sharing both successes and challenges builds credibility and trust within the team. Admitting mistakes and treating them as learning opportunities shows the human side of leadership and encourages others to be similarly open. Remember, too, that trust in a team is built not only by spectacular gestures, but by everyday actions. Even small lapses, such as being notoriously late to meetings, can undermine the team’s trust. If a leader is not punctual, team members may begin to question his or her commitment and respect for their time. Over time, such small lapses can have a serious impact on team morale.

Remember that trust begins with us. It is our actions that determine whether it becomes the driving force of our organization or remains an empty slogan.