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Improved collective training starts with trust at its core.

Trust in the system, deliverer, receiver and technology relies on effective relationships to provide transformative outcomes and improvements.  Global Campaign Director, Christina Balis, and the team discuss Training and Mission Rehearsal’s approach to trust in training and how we build those relationships with the customer.
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Over the last 30 years, scientists have conducted hundreds of studies exploring the role of trust in teams. This huge research effort has led to almost universal consensus about the important role trust plays in team performance.  A main finding from the literature is that trust is one of the critical factors considered to underpin both effective team behaviours and effectiveness outcomes. Other notable conclusions include:
  • The greater the interdependence between team members (i.e. the more they have to rely on others to get the job done because they share common goals) the more trust matters.
  • Where team members have high autonomy and can complete a task without input from other team members (i.e. they can do the job themselves) then trust matters a lot less.
  • When there is a lack of trust in a team (i.e. feelings of vulnerability and uncertainty are high), personal interests are much more likely to be a focus and a priority for individual team members.
  • If trust is high, teams are far more likely to share feelings of vulnerability and work through any differences they have – resulting in higher quality outputs.
  • Mutual trust within a team is essential for mutual team monitoring and for overall team effectiveness.
Trust is equally important for virtual teams. A pre-COVID-19 meta-analysis of 52 studies which investigated the role of trust in virtual teams found a strong and positive relationship between trust and virtual team effectiveness, particularly in the level of willingness to share knowledge and information.
 

Listen to our Trust Series of Podcasts