In a recent survey 3500 organizations were asked "What is holding you back?" the #1 answer was: Trust. Let's take a look at ways you can build trust to avoid communication breakdowns and build high performance.
Respect & Consideration for Others: Know about your team: the problems they are having, their concerns, their goals. Be there to support them when they need it and show gratitude for their efforts. Ensure that your decision-making checklist asks you to consider the impact of the decision on others and strategies to minimize any disruption it may cause.
Be Loyal to People who are Absent: People want to rest assured that when they aren't around you will take care of them. This means that if someone is talking about a person who is absent in a less than complimentary way, you close the conversation down. You can do this by either saying "I don't like to talk about others who aren't around" or "Would you like me to help you have a conversation with (absent person's name) about this issue?" People are reassured that you will not involve yourself in idle scuttlebutt - and the good news is when you shut these types of conversations down you free up an awful lot of time.
Have the Right Attitude: There is no worse feeling than feeling that you are being judged. To have effective communication you must lose any negative judgments you have about a person and/or situation and come more from a place of curiosity. "I wonder why this person might be behaving this way". When you send out a vibe that you have a positive attitude toward someone they will simply 'get' it. Your attitude will dictate whether the other person feels understood and consequently heard. You bust barriers when you adopt an attitude of approval, acceptance and solutions-focus
Get Alongside People: Regular close contact is essential for good communication. Be accessible and know about people's concerns and you will build a strong foundation of trust. Keep yourself aloof - mentally, physically and emotionally and you will very quickly build doubt, suspicion scepticism and wariness.
Keep Promises: It takes just one broken promise to lose the trust of another. This can be as simple as not getting back to somebody at 1.00 pm on Friday as you had promised. Unfortunately our everyday language is filled with the potential for broken promises. "I'll get back to you" "Maybe we can get together next week". Rather than fall into this trap be specific, set a time, then deliver to that time. Under-promise and over-deliver.
Agree Norms: Work with your team to set down a series of norms/guidelines that you will each follow. These guidelines, when applied, will ensure the consistency of behaviour that leads to an environment of high-trust and therefore high-performance. Ensure that violation of these guidelines, by anyone, is never stepped over - address the issue quickly and reaffirm the behaviours you expect.
Read more about
how to develop team norms at the leadership-and-motivation-training.com website. This site has over 100 pages of articles, tips and self-assessments for the high performance leader.