¶ … working in teams, is trust assumed or do team members have to earn trust?
Team members must earn one another's trust, although it is fairly rare that teams must create strong bonds of trust 'from scratch' in the workplace. Of course, in some cutthroat organizations, trust may be elusive, regardless of the team member's personality traits, because organizational leaders create an atmosphere of intense competition, even paranoia, about other employee's success. But in a healthy organization, an atmosphere of trust is created early on in employees' working lives, even before the specific team is created. The need to work towards a common mission is stressed in employee orientation, during every employee's first day on the job.
Team members working for a trusting organization are more likely to trust their fellow workers within a smaller unit. The team members know that they all have an interest in achieving a common goal. But even the most trusting work team is likely to exist in a state of conditional, rather than unconditional trust. The team members may trust one another to fulfill their duties, but the vulnerability that gives rise to intense creativity and boundary-breaking discussion is rare to occur without an initial ice-breaking period.
Consider how trust is lost when working in team and how to keep trust among team members?
Trust is eroded by a lack of consideration for other team members. A team member who is consistently late, does not fulfill his duties, and shows a lackadaisical attitude towards meeting the goals of the team creates a sense of disharmony amongst the group. The group begins to grow suspicious if their colleagues will live up to their obligations, and if the projects that are contingent for their own success on the team will be realized in time. Even one person's lack of emotional and work-related participation can create an interpersonal imbalance that results in the breakdown of team trust.
Gossip, a lack of candor, and failing to extend full credit to one's colleagues also creates a poisonous atmosphere. The focus in the mind of the individual employee shifts to an 'every person for himself' mode -- the suspicious team member begins to see the team as a vehicle, a way of serving his or her own career interests, rather than tries to fulfill his or her obligations to the group and its higher mission.
