Does Your Team Suffer From Trust Deficit?

Trust: the belief that someone is reliable, good, honest or effective (Merriam-Webster). Healthy ministry teams make trust building a priority. Patrick Lencioni, one of today’s best writers on leadership, believes that absence of trust is the biggest problem among dysfunctional teams (see his book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team). Stephen M.R. Covey wrote an entire book that shows how teams can build trust called The Speed of Trust. So, how do you know if your team has a deficit? This post answers that question. Honestly answer these questions to gauge if you have a trust deficit in your team.

1. Does a spirit of suspicion lurk in team members’ minds?
2. Do team members overly rely on email in lieu of talking?
3. Do team members often wear facades?
4. Is there too much “happy talk” that masks true problems?
5. Are team members reluctant to share their honest feelings and opinions?
6. Do team members resist meeting together?
7. Has the team lost enthusiasm?
8. Has grumbling and complaining  become the norm?
9. Is the leader inconsistent?
10. Do some team members intentionally withhold information from others?

How did you do? If you answered yes to more than one or two questions, your team may be facing a trust deficit. So how do you rebuild trust? In the posts below I suggest a few ideas on building trust. Here’s what I suggest as a first step, though. Get the book The Speed of Trust for you and your team and read it. It’s a great read. Here’s a summary of the book to get you started. What other behaviors have you seen that may indicate lack of trust in a team? This article originally appeared here.