Some reading

In the series: “A systemic coach’s view” n°7/2873

What is now known as the “submarine crisis” reflects a fundamental notion in human system exchanges, between people, between teams, between companies or between governments. Within the framework of the 76th General Assembly of the United Nations, our Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs @Jean-Yves Le Drian clearly spoke about it in a press conference: “the problem today goes beyond the breach of a contract (...), it is first of all the question of the breach of trust between partners. Because trust, (...) means predictability, explanations, communicating, not hiding, (...) but all that has not been honoured”.

We know that we cannot impose trust, it grows over time in relationships between partners. And, as @François Dupuy states in his book “We cannot order companies to change”, what nurtures trust is the predictability of the other party. In a company, a manager who wants to create a feeling of trust within their team should concentrate on reducing the uncertainty of their own behaviour towards their collaborators. The counter balance is to give up part of one's power because, according to @Michel Crozier (cf “The Bureaucratic Phenomenon”), the exercise of power means mastering the uncertainty of the other.

So what should you do? How can you encourage a collaboration of trust while retaining decision-making power? One solution may lie in clarifying the rules of collaboration as a team. Collaborating confidently would then consist in securing relations through explicit working methods providing for predefined areas of flexibility.

And you, how do you build trust within your teams?

Image: Singing in the Rain - Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly