Print page

Email page

Getting team members to express themselves

Q: As a team leader, how can I encourage team members to express how they really feel instead of just providing "politically correct" responses?

A:

Cynthia Palka responds:
Trust is the foundation of real teamwork. With trust, team members feel more comfortable opening up to each other and admitting their mistakes and their weaknesses without fear of reprisal. Think of politics as "choosing your words and actions based on how you want others to react rather than based on what you really think." Trust, on the other hand, is the confidence among team members that their peers' intentions are good, so there is no need to be protective or careful around each other.

How much trust is present in your team? First, ask yourself how you think your team members would scale the following statements (usually, sometimes, rarely):
 

1. Team members openly admit their weaknesses and mistakes.
2. Team members know about one another's personal lives and are comfortable discussing them.
3. Team members quickly and genuinely apologize to one another when they say or do something inappropriate or possibly damaging to the team.

Some behavioral signs of the lack of trust among team members include:
• Concealing weaknesses and mistakes from one another
• Hesitation to ask for help or to provide constructive feedback
• Failure to recognize and tap into each other's skills and experiences
• Holding grudges
• Wasting time and energy managing behaviors for effect
• Jumping to conclusions insteading of seeking clarification
• Dreading meetings and avoiding spending time together

If you determine that there is a lack of trust in your team, there are techniques you can use to start to build trust. This will not happen overnight since it requires shared experiences over time, in-depth understanding of the attributes of team members, and multiple instances of follow-through and credibility.
 
Two exercises that can help to build trust are the following:

1. Personal Histories Exercise: Team members share information about themselves with the rest of the group, such as number of siblings, hometown, favorite hobbies, challenges of childhood, first job, worst job, etc. This exercise allows team members to relate to each other on a more personal basis and see each other as human beings with life stories and interesting backgrounds.
2. Team Effectiveness Exercise: Team members identify the single most important contribution that each of their peers makes to the team, and one area that they must either improve upon or eliminate for the good of the team.

A great resource on building effective teams is the book entitled, "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team," by Patrick Lencioni. The exercises listed are recommended by Lencioni as methods for building trust.