"Swift trust occurs when a diverse group of experts are brought together in a temporary organization such as a virtual team created for an urgent project."
": Maxwell state this well that Leadership is influence; nothing more; nothing less. Managers work from a position of command and control."
Love it. Saving Changes...
Yvonne ParleEast Victoria Park, Western Australia, Australia
Given the potential impact that trust, or the lack of it, can influence project outcomes, it's an interesting topic.
I really like Naomi's description about trust in a tennis context, because I enjoy the game too and can relate to the metaphor, but also because it illustrates the theory that trust is built or dismantled based on the degree of security a person feels in their own role and how well they understand the other project participants roles.
In my experience, a bunch of people brought together in a project context who know why they are there, what they have to do and what the other people are doing there are pretty quick off the mark in terms of building trust-based relationships, just as in the tennis doubles example. The participants understand the "game" and stand a good chance of predicting what the likely reaction is by the other "players" depending on what's happening. For example, when the opposing player is serving, the receiver best be prepared to return the serve just as when a Risk specialist advises a PM on a new risk factor, the PM best be prepared to listen and devise a mitigation strategy without much questioning of why a Risk specialist would be doing such a thing, because they understand and accept the role of Risk Management within the Project.
On the other hand bringing people together into a project where roles are loosely defined and poorly understood sets up the perfect environment for misunderstanding, mistrust and a breakdown in relationships before they have a chance to be established. It's just about guaranteed that good messages will get ignored and faulty messages will get relayed in such an environment.
So, how do you develop trust when you don't know your team?
Paradoxically, getting to know the team may not be the way to achieve your goal! If you're looking to build trust very quickly, concentrate on the organisation of the team rather than the team members themselves, at the beginning anyway. Lead by example and be crystal clear on what the project is about, the goals and outputs etc. Put a structure in place that establishes clear roles and expectations from those roles. Check in frequently! Listen to the "messages" (meetings, emails etc.) and guage whether the team is exhibiting trust-based relationships or if you need to work harder on the structure, building and communicating as you go.
Not a magic bullet of course, there are other factors that can disrupt even the best construction but food for thought perhaps.
