5 Ways to Build Trust in Your Team

Building trust with your team is critical for productivity, engagement, and employee retainment. The following five tips are methods Driverseat has implemented to build trust in their teams. 

-Talk About Yourself-

In order to build trust, you must form relationships with those in your workforce. An important aspect for developing those relationships is to talk about your interests, hobbies and, families outside of the office. It is important to take time and talk about yourself, your goals, and what’s important to you and ask what your colleagues’ are, in return. Sharing about yourself will lower barriers, but asking and listening to others will build trust! 

–Have Fun!-

It is important to have fun. We like to say that if you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life. At Driverseat, one of the ways we encourage fun is with a Mandatory Fun Lunch (MFL). This can be anything from a barbecue to a take away mow down! Get creative in the ways you inspire fun and joy in the workplace and let members of your team plan fun events – socially distanced, of course!

-Don’t Shame Mistakes-

Everyone is human, we all make mistakes. At Driverseat, we live by the policy of “praise in public and provide feedback in private” and we ensure that every individual is able to learn from every challenge and project. As a team, we want to learn from what went wrong, determine what we can do better, and develop a plan to do it. At Driverseat, we analyze our marketing effort scorecards on a weekly basis to determine areas of success and improvement. 

-Celebrate the Little Things-

Even small victories are worth celebrating. Acknowledging one other’s successes is a crucial part of building trust. Displaying that you appreciate their efforts and have their best interests in mind, will encourage openness and trust. There is no victory too small, so get creative with the ways you celebrate. 

-Value the Genius in Diversity-

It is important to cultivate an environment where everyone feels comfortable being authentically themselves and can express their individuality and diversity. People are the most trusting when they are comfortable. Be unique, be yourself, and encourage out of the box thinking, and you will find that others will follow. Creating an atmosphere of fun will remove your team’s defenses and insecurities and allow them to build trust.