This exchange made me think ... This expat manager will be the leader of the team for maybe 4 years, and will then be posted at another assignment. His successor could be very similar, or very different from him. So what will happen with all that trust that he has built up, over 4 years, with each of his direct reports ? Will the team transfer all this trust to the successor ? Probably not. At best, the successor will start with a blank page and maybe some credit based on his or her experience. At worst, the successor could start with a handicap. And what happens next depends on what the successor does with the team.
Should a team start from scratch every time a new leader shows up ? Obviously not ! So what is missing ? What is missing is the extent to which trust has been built up BETWEEN team members, and that is not something you can dictate. This level of trust depends obviously a lot on how the leader works with each team member, individually and collectively. But it is not sufficient. Trust is not something that by capillarity or osmosis affects everybody that comes in touch with it. Trust exists between 2 people: A can trust B and B can trust C, but that does not mean that A trusts C automatically.
Developing trust with your team is great. Developing and nurturing trust BETWEEN team members is what ensures that the investment pays off even after the leader has moved on. Action Learning is one method that creates this level of trust: team members build on others' ideas, ask questions and collaborate to put in place the solutions they created. The level of trust that is built up within a team working like this, remains for a very long time !
Dear Peter,
ReplyDeleteI have read your post and would like to elaborate b a bit more in terms of trust. You have asked what could happend if the manager, after 4 years built a trust among the team will leave and new manager will come. What then... I suggest to look on trust from two angles. One is of course what you mentioned, trust between the individuals. In this case between manager and the team as well as between team members (we should not avoid to look on it as well). But the second angle is to "teach" the members what is the trust about, what they can get from it. Just let's them test it, that later on, they will adopt trust and build it further into organization, into they own team. If the team member will understand what really the trust is about, they will try to apply it in future. Then we can come to answer what will happens if new manager comes. If they start to believe in trust, if they already acquire how impotent and profitable TRUST is, they will try to apply it also in the new manager. Of course, not automatically, they will test and with each step they will go further. It is like with dishes which you stat to like very much; in each restaurant the same dish can taste different. So, come back to our question in terms of new manager, they will try to apply, or if it be without success they will leave company (after attempting to change and build trust). Because, if somebody "try" the trust, they would like to work with it as long as possible. And this is a real goal to build the trust within the team. In long term you develop your team members in such way that that will start to build the trust whenever they are.
Regards, Dariusz