Engagement and Trust

In this week of gratitude sharing, we are all at risk of diluting our ‘thank you’ expressions. It’s as though we’ve saved them up for the holiday and they come pouring out in large volume. When you say any word enough times, it begins to lose its meaning. Yet, we are deeply grateful for the gifts of human connection, the beauty of the universe, and simple good fortune. As you communicate your appreciation, make the most of your moment.

Employee engagement is a great example of a workplace culture feature we try to capture. There are many variables. In the end, retention tells the story. Unless they have normalized the dysfunction of a toxic workplace, most people use their current unsatisfactory workplace as a funding source for their job hunt. If you are disengaged, you are paid to sleepwalk through your job and your engagement energy is devoted to your next gig. Wouldn’t it be nice to know whether your team was in or out before the resignation letter?

What are the qualities of the coworker-connection with the teammate with whom you have the most trust? Do you know them well? Have you been through a few challenges together? Does your relationship chemistry just create a good vibe? For most of us, it’s all the above. Depending on the size of your work team, your connection to this trusted colleague may be the thing that brings you back to the grind on Monday morning when every bone in your body is aching for a change.

My teammates are unaware of, and probably unconcerned with, the amount of time I’ve devoted to preparation. They simply expect me to show up and make my contribution. We have a four-hour event and my section is three minutes and twenty-four seconds in duration – less than 2% of the product. Because it’s a concert showcasing student and faculty performances, each of us shares accountability for being at the top of our game in the moments on stage. Rehearsing and cleaning up mistakes is largely done alone, so the interdependence is invisible – yet very much real.

More and more, I see my friends and colleagues managing multiple priorities simultaneously. I have a coworker with one conference call on an earbud while participating on another meeting on a Zoom screen. She toggles back and forth, depending on which conversation becomes the most urgent or requires her most focused engagement. The science suggests that at no time is she actually giving full attention to either meeting.

There is simply nothing more fundamental to relationships and team wellness than trust. It is also the hardest element of connection to both earn and maintain. Since everyone has been burned at some point in their past, it often only takes a small breach to devolve the connection back to negative territory. The chance that a teammate will lower their guard again after a violation, no matter how minor, is slim. You had – and lost – your chance.

Eventually, everyone in your inner circle will say or do something that annoys you. Some will repeat these words and behaviors often enough to make you wonder why they’re still in your circle. Because a rich community requires diversity to survive, we don’t usually take the drastic route of cutting people out. In most cases, we’re left with the option to either tolerate or appreciate. When tensions are high, we tend to opt for tolerance. But, when we step back and look at the bigger picture, appreciation unfolds. Relationships, teams, neighborhoods, and communities are built on these responses. Let’s consider three examples and the lessons they teach.

Team engagement is more challenging when interacting through a laptop screen or a smartphone. It’s easier than ever to get away with multitasking. When the group gets larger, distractions are more tempting. What keeps teammates tuned in? Beyond the drug of charisma when a compelling speaker has the floor, the most effective fuel for sustained engagement is connection. And connection is not about you or your needs. It’s about the other people on the team.

Virtually every team we measure scores high on the statement, “I have at least one trusted colleague on the team.” Far fewer clients, however, reflect full-group trust in the survey questions designed to evaluate the psychological safety of the entire team. Almost everyone has a trusted teammate as one-to-one interactions are easier to navigate than group dynamics. Without full-team trust, the organization’s energy is misallocated to internal politics. Consider these steps to building or rebuilding a sustainable foundation of trust in the workplace.

As the primary driver of team trust, accountability is elusive. Meeting deadlines, keeping promises and behaving in a way that is true to company values are examples of the daily contributions we all make to team wellness. In a culture of accountability, only exceptions to these behaviors are noticed. When getting a pass is the norm, following through with commitments gets celebrated as special. So, how do you build a culture of accountability?

Performing in “the zone” is a team endeavor. Most people can nail just about any solo skill with focus, discipline, and repetition. The pressure is largely internal. When you add other humans to the mix, however, the ability to find the zone is more difficult. Sometimes the effort to perform becomes the failure to perform when under pressure.

Trust is the secret sauce that enables teams to thrive. Once it is anchored in a relationship, growth and innovation become possible. Without it, much of the team’s energy is spent managing interpersonal chaos. This is the value proposition for most teams. The less time and resources consumed by office politics, the more time and resources focused on the organization’s mission. As elusive as group trust may seem, there is a proven path.