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20 Ways To Build Trust On Your Team – Improve the Culture & Results · Enhance.training

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Building trust on your team is something every good manager thinks about, yet, this remains a challenging area for many managers.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: In this podcast, I'm going to take you through 20 ways to build trust on your team grouped into four main categories.
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  SPEAKER_00: As I'm sharing these ideas, I'll give a quick explanation of each.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: I started off like everyone else, a new manager trying to work out what to do.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: And many of these tips were given to me from some of the great managers that I had, and I've used them for over 25 years in managing teams.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Jess Coles, and I've managed teams in corporates and household names all the way through to SMEs at all management levels, and I've won best team prizes at national and company level.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: If you're new to this podcast, Enhanced.training provides online business courses to help professionals, managers and business owners improve their performance.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: And if you like this podcast, please share it with friends and colleagues.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: So let's start with the first of 20 ways to build trust on your team.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: So build personal relationships as well as professional relationships with your team members.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: Find out what they like, what they do outside work, if they have kids and so on.
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  SPEAKER_00: Be interested in them.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: It does not mean you have to be best of friends or anything, but just build a personal relationship as well as a professional one.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, tell them a bit about yourself, your non-work self.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: The second way to build trust is to think of your team members as people and not robots.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: They need breaks, they approach problem solving slightly differently from you, and they have their own ideas, wants and ambitions.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Treat them like people and they will reward you many times over with better work and results for the team and you.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: My third way to build trust is to check in with each team member and ask them what they're thinking and how they're feeling, and listen to what they say.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: You can learn absolutely loads about what is going well, what problems there are and ideas on how to fix them, and why your team member might be having a bad day.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Ask and listen.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: The fourth way to build trust on your team is to try to get senior management in front of the team as much as possible.
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  SPEAKER_00: Your team gets to hear the plan straight from the horse's mouth as such, and get opportunities to network and get exposure to the senior managers.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: And they in turn also have a chance for feedback direct from the coalface as such.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Both parties win.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: My fifth way to build trust on your team is to keep things informal in how you speak to team members and write emails, etc.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: This helps create a much more positive culture within the team, and you as the leader set the rules by the actions that you do.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a big fan of being open and honest in managing teams, which is my sixth way to build trust on teams.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Being open and honest certainly builds trust, and I've experienced a lot of team performance benefits personally and also seen to clients, including those with heavily unionised teams, by being open and honest.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: And the next few ways are all about being open and honest in action.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: My seventh way to build trust is to be direct with your feedback.
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  SPEAKER_00: Tell it how it is, you know, praise great behaviour and results, but also call out poor performance in private, of course, with individuals concerned and help them correct it.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure people know where they stand.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: And just a note, being direct is not about being blunt.
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  SPEAKER_00: You still need to be considerate of feelings and the individuals themselves.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: Just tell it how it is.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: The eighth way to build trust on teams is to agree the principles of how the team should act and behave with all the team members.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure everyone inputs into the agreement.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Then your job is to adhere to those principles yourself and make sure the team members do too.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: This creates a same principle for everyone situation.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: The ninth way to build trust is to talk about trust issues openly with a team.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: If trust problems arise, bring them up in your one-to-one meetings or in a team meeting if appropriate and get the group to agree on the action to be taken.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: The tenth way to build trust on your team is to admit to mistakes.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: You will make mistakes, the wider company will make mistakes, everyone does make mistakes.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: Have the confidence to acknowledge them with your team and explain what has been done to put them right or the action that's been taken.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: The eleventh way to build trust is to be fair when giving feedback.
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  SPEAKER_00: This is about providing balanced feedback as well as being specific when providing praise or pointing out something that has not gone quite so well.
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  SPEAKER_00: Also offer advice on how it can be approved.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: The more specific your feedback and example led, the more likely your feedback will be fair rather than just voicing opinions, for instance.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: The twelfth way to build trust is to avoid pursuing a naming and shaming culture.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Very few employees ever come to work with the intention of doing a poor job.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: We all want to do our best, and providing help and support is much more productive for everyone and much more likely that the employee in question will actually improve.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Following on from this, the 13th way to build trust on your team is to spend the time to train, teach, mentor, and coach your staff members as much as you can.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: If you are the manager, you'll have areas that you can help your team members improve on by passing on your knowledge and experience.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: Make the time to do this.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: You'll get back a lot more than you put in.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: The fourteenth way to build trust is to listen before speaking.
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  SPEAKER_00: Really take the time to concentrate and take in what is being said.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: Active listening takes more effort, yet you can learn so much more by doing this, and you show that you care, all powerful motivators of trust.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: My fifteenth way is to praise more than you criticise.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know, in fact, studies have shown that you have to praise three times as much as you criticize to keep your team members happy and motivated at work.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Do you praise enough?
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: My 16th way to build trust is to regularly hold one-to-one meetings with your direct reports and have each manager in the team do the same with theirs.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: This is a great opportunity to practice many of the ways to build trust in a private forum.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: Use the time to help your team members improve what they are doing as much as possible.
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  SPEAKER_00: My 17th suggestion is to look out for and support team members that are struggling silently.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Spotting issues or potential issues and proactively providing help to these individuals is a great way to build trust with the individual but also the wider team who will see or hear of what you are doing to help.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: The 18th way to build trust on your team is to accept that failures happen.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not suggesting that you put up with repeated failures.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Rather accept that having failures is part of learning and taking calculated risks.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: Treating failure as a learning opportunity will encourage the team members to push the boat out a little bit more rather than always playing it safe.
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  SPEAKER_00: This approach should easily produce high level of results over time compared to simply criticising failure.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: The 19th way to build trust is to protect your team.
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  SPEAKER_00: Prioritize their workloads that the team can focus on the more important tasks and projects and realistically deliver.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: Keep their workload manageable and protect them from any unfair criticism from elsewhere in the business.
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  SPEAKER_00: And then lastly, the 20th way to build trust is to pay your staff fairly.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: This relates to salary and the additional benefits and bonuses.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Keep an eye on the market rates being paid for similar roles and reward performance, not longevity in the role.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: Losing staff because of poor pay will impact the team performance as finding new staff is costly in terms of time and cash.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: So, in summary, there you have 20 ways to build trust on your team.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: If you are the manager, then you set the rules and tone for your team through your actions.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: Take the time to build trust in your team, and you'll have a team that repays you many times over with a great working environment and a great performance.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: Do visit us at enhance.training and take a look at the courses and resources to help you manage your team more effectively.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: And if you like this podcast, please share it with friends and colleagues.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks very much for listening, and I look forward to speaking to you again soon.