Building and maintaining trust in the workplace in important to help me meet the aim and objectives set as a team. Working as a team is important in allowing the work we face to be completed to a high quality standard using effective and efficient ways to providing value for money. When I behave consistently, it enables employees to identify the boundaries within which they can operate. Inconsistent behaviour makes it difficult for employees to know what to expect. It is important for employees to be able to predict to some extent how I will react.
The level of trust that employees have in their managers and leaders is often not given the attention it deserves. When trust is in place it promotes more positive working relationships which have an important impact on an individual’s overall psychological well being. The presence of trust in an organisation is therefore crucial for the employee, manager and the business performance. However, in my opinion organisations cannot earn, develop or retain employee trust, only people can. Trust is an interpersonal experience, while organisations define policies and practices that promote trust.It is the behaviour of individuals, especially leaders that determines the level of trust in an organization.
Being honest is the easiest way to prevent loss of trust. If we don't know the answer, we say so. If we have a tough question, we ask it. If we say we are going to do something, we do it, or provide an update as to why the schedule has changed. It is the little things, which add up, that help earn and maintain trust within the team.
It is essential that information entrusted to us in confidence is kept secure.The sharing of confidential information without permission of the employee is a way of destroying a trusting relationship, sometimes beyond repair. Confidentiality is a term that indicates preserving the privacy of the persons in which you care for. This mean that all information related to them will be kept in strict confidence for use only by the team of care providers. This includes information gained verbally or from employee’s records.
How do we build trust? Trust is earned when everyone's interests are considered and respected.Communication is the key to do this. Following is a list of suggestions for building and maintaining trust. Ability – the manager’s ability to do their job.
* Understanding – displaying knowledge and understanding of their employees’ roles and responsibilities. * Fairness – behaving fairly and showing concern for the welfare of employees. * Openness – being accessible and receptive to ideas and opinions. * Integrity – striving to be honest and fair in decision making. * Consistency – behaving in a reliable and predictable manner.
Building the team The word team is a convenient label for almost any collection of people who assemble together for whatever purpose or period of time and yet there is a vast difference between groups and team.Understanding the fundamental differences between groups and teams is essential. It helps us to lead, manage, develop and participate in the team more effectively. When team leaders understand the differences, this equips them and team members with the ability to unleash a team’s immense potential.
A team is a small group of people with complementary skills and abilities who are committed to a common goal and approach for which they hold each other accountable. The best size for teams is 7-12 individuals. Larger teams require more structure and support, smaller teams often have difficulty meeting when members are absent.Members have skills and abilities that balance the team's purpose.
Not all members have the same skills, but together they are greater than the sum of their parts. On teams, members share roles and responsibilities and are constantly developing new skills to improve the team's performance. Teams identify and reach consensus on their common goal and approach, rather than looking to a leader to define the goal and approach. Most importantly, teams hold their members accountable. What does this mean in practical terms? When they experience conflict with a member, they speak to that member directly rather than to a supervisor.When a member isn't performing to the level required, the team addresses the performance problem.
A group can be defined as a small group of people with complementary skills and abilities who are committed to a leader's goal and approach and are willing to be held accountable by the leader. A group supports the leader's goals and the leader dominated approach to goal attainment. A group drives individual accountability rather than shared accountability. Leadership is predominantly held by one person rather than the shared.
In a group, the dominant viewpoint is represented, in a team, multiple, diverse viewpoints are represented.Decisions in a group are made by voting or implied agreement, decisions on a team are typically made by consensus. So, would it be right to say that teams are good and groups are bad? Absolutely not. A better question to ask is. When do we use a group and when do we make the extra effort to develop a team? Let's face it; groups are far easier to create than teams, so it makes sense to be a group when the following exist: the decisions and process are already determined, time is a critical factor and there is split or minimal management support for teaming.
To form the group, we should identify a strong effective leader and empower the person to recruit group members, formulate the goal and approach and drive decision making. This approach would be practical for short term projects with outcomes already defined. Teaming, on the other hand, should be used when we need to get best results, when no one person has the answer and when shared responsibility is important to the success of the goal. To achieve a real team is difficult and time consuming.
It takes time to develop the skills to work well together and understand how to solve problems and make decisions effectively.
