What is a team?
A team is a collection of people who participate in the same organisation, board, department or project. Their role within the team doesn’t matter, so feel free to think of this as applicable to any team.
What is trust?
Best described using a scene from one of my all time favourite TV series, Battlestar Galactica (2003)
When William Adama commissions Agathon as a Colonial officer, shortly after making contact with the New Caprica Resistance, he shows complete trust in her. She asks how he knows that she won’t betray him and he replies he doesn’t, stating “that’s what trust is.”
Building a functional team isn’t difficult
Some people might think it requires expensive hotel retreats, inevitably collapsing towers of blocks, and backwards falling, blindfolded co-workers. As fun as that sounds, and while they might be great exercises for building rapport and interaction, building a functional team just needs a few things:
- Structure. Everyone knows what their role is, what the team expects from them, and trusts the competency of their teammates — this harder for startups that are hiring.
- Accountability. Individuals are committed and ready to be held accountable. That means understanding that there’s a difference between being skilled and being competent.
- Trust in collaboration. No-one is here to steal ideas or take credit for all the work. Anything the team creates is a joint effort. If everyone understands that their ideas are the team’s ideas, they will be more likely to share concerns.
- Consistency. If team members are to be functional, they need a constant stream of communication. Do this with regular short meetings, such as standups. These are ideal, as they help everyone to engage with the group quickly, share problems and discuss changes or improvements.
- Down-time. Happy hour, call it what you want. Blow off some steam, if you want a happy team.
- Practice. Trust builds over time with success, mistakes and the occasional all-nighter panic.