Why you should read this
Cultivating trust in your team is a foundational step for building and sustaining high performance as a collective. It also builds the bond which will unite your team and carry you through the twists and turns of your scaling journey. Conventionally, building trust is bit of an esoteric topic. An art, rather than a science. Our aim is to take a data-led approach and give you a practical tool which helps you take pro-active steps on this topic. It acts a framework for “how you actively cultivate trust” and fuels productive conversations, either 1:1 or as a group.
Trust Underpins Enduring Performance
At AlbionVC, we always ask: what is the best team to achieve the growth strategy? As a founder, it’s not just about who you hire, but what you can achieve together. Team effectiveness is the key which unlocks sustained growth.
At Series A, the leadership team is often in early formation, so what should you focus on to get the best out of your lean team? We believe that trust underpins the effectiveness of a Series A leadership team by adding cohesion and resilience to the performance equation.
By building trust into your culture and relationships, it:
- Lays the foundation for developing psychological safety, where people say what’s true with compassion and challenge without defensiveness
- Generates a team spirit that can surf the inevitable set-backs
- Develops a team that is able to regenerate and expand by connecting to its own power source
- Fosters a team where individuals raise their game, where there’s an unwavering commitment to deliver on promises & intention to give first. In a high-trust team, people have got each other’s back and align behind a belief that ‘we can achieve more together’.
However, given that trust is an intangible concept often experienced as an instinct or feeling, how can you successfully measure and develop it? AlbionVC have built The Trust Index, which helps you to decode the ‘trust instinct’ into something more measurable.
Measuring Trust with the Trust Index
The Trust Index currently contains six key factors that Series A leaders can use to determine the levels of trust in their team and includes:
1. Authenticity
Trusting teams have high levels of transparency, inclusivity, integrity and reliability, sprinkled with humour. They are psychologically safe. Check for the factor by asking:
- Do we communicate a healthy ratio of good and bad news?
- Do team members involve multiple colleagues in projects or the same group of favourites?
- Do we use it, not lose it? How much do people show irrational emotional volatility?
2. Disagree and Commit
Healthy, non-personalised disagreement and proactive debate is essential for productive growth.
- Do individuals show signs of mutual respect and deep listening to understand when engaging in constructive conflict?
- Do colleagues respond to feedback appreciatively or defensively?
- Do we show passion but avoid personal criticism?
3. Get Stuff Done (GSD)
Trusting teams consist of proactive, hard-working individuals who deliver on their promises.
- Do we set clear, agreed and measurable goals?
- Do we match a can-do attitude with audacious challenges?
- Have we created our own power source as a team? Do we sustain our hard work and discipline by training hard and resting well?
4. Accountability
Shared responsibility and autonomy underpins shared growth and winning.
- Are mistakes called out quickly, without judgement or blame?
- Is there a two-way feedback loop with evidence of reflection and learning?
- Are tough decisions taken with a sensitive ruthlessness?
5. Bounce
Trust fuels a team which believes in the long-term win, learns and gains confidence from failures and sustains the mental toughness to stay where others fade away.
- Are we resilient and adaptive in the face of adversity?
- Do we confidently come up with creative solutions under pressure?
- Do we ask what we can learn from failure rather than who to blame?
6. Shared purpose
A united ‘why’ in a team which seeks to give first. Prioritising the ‘collective’ over the ‘self’ enables individual drivers to be present while the overarching mission remains paramount.
- Ask yourself: would my colleague take a bullet for me in a meeting?
- Would my teammate give me credit for something I’ve done when I’m not in the room (especially if it requires self-sacrifice)?
- Do individuals make decisions with an owner mindset?
Cultivating a High Trust-Quotient (TQ) Mindset
Planting a trust mindset enables trust behaviour to flourish and it’s the leader’s responsibility to sow the seeds.
The leap from self-reliance to mutual-trust is imperative for scaling and founder leaders can bridge this tricky chasm by becoming a high ‘trust quotient’ (TQ) leader.
