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Building Trust and Respect: The Key to a Flourishing Team

• Andrea Johnson

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Struggling with building respect and trust in your team?  It hasn't been a smooth ride over the last couple of years, but there's a way to create a supportive environment that fosters growth and development. This episode is all about how to start with self-trust and extend that trust to your team. We look at the vital role of respect and how its presence can make a team flourish. Get ready to reimagine the dynamics of your team, strengthening the reliability, truth, ability, and strength that each member brings to the table.

But don't stop there. We also delve into the link between our behaviors as leaders and the group dynamic, and how spotting a potential toxic team member is a crucial part of the process. You'll learn how organizational culture and structure can positively impact morale and engagement. Plus, I share creative solutions to help you make necessary changes in your leadership style.  Join us on this journey of building trust and respect within your team or organization. A better future for your team starts here.


Trust: the firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.


Synonyms: confidence, belief, faith, freedom from suspicion/doubt


Respect:  a feeling of admiration for a person’s abilities or qualities, or regard for the feelings, wishes, rights or traditions of others.

1.   Think Critcally
     a.  Diagnose the problem
     b.  Know all the players
2.  Create Imaginatively
     a.  Get creative about solutions
     b.  Ask for help
3.  Lead Effectively
     a.  Use what you learned
     b.  Get a little courageous
     c.   Become a little wiser

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Core Values Course Information Page (theintentionaloptimist.com)

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Speaker 1:

Hey, it's summer 2023. If you're new to my world, welcome. I'm Andrea Johnson, a transformational leadership coach, and my passion is working with ambitious, high-achieving women who are truly ready to impact their world. The Intentional Optimists Unconventional Leaders podcast has been three years of teaching my philosophy and learning what high-achieving women all have in common in their stories, in their backgrounds and their mindset. I have interviewed over 75 amazing leaders and the information I've gleaned has actually changed my life. They've encouraged my growth and development in ways I never expected, and now it's time for me to level up. So I've got a brand new podcast coming out this fall and I can't wait to share it with you. It's currently in development and all the necessary gear shifting and whizz-bang thing and majiggy things are going on behind the scenes, so I want to refresh your memory, or share with you for the first time, if you're new on some of these foundational and important concepts and thoughts that have contributed to the development of this next level. Between now and the new launch, i'm sharing with you my personal must-have episodes that will set you up to switch gears right along with me, and when I say switch gears, what I really mean is kick it into high gear. So if you want to level up along with me and be encouraged to grow past that spot where you keep getting stuck, subscribe or follow the show now, because right here is where the new podcast will live too. Share it with your friends and let's get the next revolution started. You're listening to Intentional Optimists, the podcast for unconventional leaders, where you'll find inspiration, learn to discover and develop your own strengths and hear from inspiring women just like you who are making a difference in their community. Who knows, you just might find yourself stepping up as the next unconventional leader right where you are. I'm your host, andrea Johnson, the original Intentional Optimist. Welcome to Episode 99.

Speaker 1:

The last two years have been really hard on teams and organizations. There's no way to sugarcoat that. However, the lack of trust and respect between leaders and their teams isn't new, although it has been exacerbated and exposed by, first the need for remote work and now the desire to get back to quote normal or what we had before the world was turned upside down. Organizations had to completely change the way they interacted with their teams, and the logical response the way we do things as humans is to go back to quote what we've always done. Now, as I've spoken to my guests over the last few months, i've noticed that we all have the same concerns about the state of the morale and culture in the workforce. I've experienced this myself prior to leaving my corporate job and I see plenty of evidence in my social media feeds and in conversations with my friends that this is still or worse, a very real issue. I've come to the conclusion that at the heart of all of it is a lack of trust and respect. As a consultant and coach working with local clients to change organizational culture, building and empowering leaders at all levels, i'm encouraged to see plenty of leaders and organizations that really want to change this particular trajectory. So today we're going to look at how to do that.

Speaker 1:

If you find yourself in a situation where team morale and engagement are low, or you're frustrated with trying to motivate yourself and others to really care about the direction of the team or organization, this one's for you Now. Two episodes ago, before we get started in episode 97, we looked at the importance of trusting yourself and how to begin that process. I think I'm always surprised at myself in this particular journey, but it's all part of how we grow. Here's the thing The ability to trust your team, either as the leader or a member, or to help your team. Trust you all begins with you. Ready for this, you, it all starts with trusting yourself. So if you've not listened to that episode yet, I encourage you to go listen. Just hit pause, scroll back two episodes to number 97, because this one will build. This one that I'm doing today will build on the principles that you find there.

Speaker 1:

I will be doing a brief review and part of what we're going to do is start with, like I love to do, a few definitions. First, as a reminder, the definition of trust is as follows The firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability or strength of someone or something. Confidence include confidence, belief, faith, freedom from suspicion or doubt. And the second word we're going to look at shocker is respect. Respect is a feeling of admiration for a person's abilities or qualities or a general regard for their feelings, wishes, rights or traditions.

Speaker 1:

Trust is integral to any relationship and it is usually earned. Without it, there is no foundation upon which to build. When there is no belief in the reliability of your word or support or the strength of connection, we lose confidence and faith in the relationship. We become suspicious and doubtful. This is especially true in team relationships, between the members, between the members and the leaders. We're all connected and we have to work together, and if those things are broken down, when trust is damaged, the team will not flourish. Respect, on the other hand, while also integral, is what is given when trust is earned. Yes, we do use the language of earning respect, but in most cases what we really mean there is trust. It's difficult to quote earn other people feeling admiration for your abilities and qualities or earning their regard for your feelings, wishes, rights or traditions.

Speaker 1:

In the area of team and organizational dynamics, the two go hand in hand. You can't have one without the other. But before we worry ourselves into a chicken and egg cycle, let's just be super real for a second. Where does it actually start? Well, it has to start with you. You're the leader, even if you may not be formally recognized as the leader of the team. Building trust in your team begins with trusting them. It starts with you. You have to go first period. Trust for others flows out of trusting yourself. So again, if you've not listened to episode 97, entitled Trust Yourself, super simple you should pause this one, go back and listen, because I'm going to apply all the same points for how you learn to trust yourself, to how you do that with others. You ready.

Speaker 1:

In that episode I defined my framework of think critically, create imaginatively and lead effectively, and how that helps you overcome your own mistrust. Now let's look at how you can apply that to working in your team or organization. In each of these examples, i'm just assuming that you've done this work on yourself so that we can actually flow into talking about how we can do this in teams. All right, the first is think critically. Number one you must be willing to diagnose the quote problem And guess what It might be you. Yep, this is the be a grown up segment of the episode.

Speaker 1:

You have to look at your own leadership or engagement and be honest about how you're contributing to the group dynamic. If you're the leader, do you trust your team? In talking with last week's guest, mary Ann Snow, i was reminded how obvious the lack of trust becomes when employers require staff to be on site so that they can actually see them working, as if not seeing them means they are not working. There's no data to support that, but it also means that the evidence of the employer not trusting the staff is very clear. Next, if you're the leader, are you a worthy role model? Are you engaging the way that you would like the rest of the team to engage, or are you asking them to meet one standard while you meet another? I have seen this plenty. I have seen supervisors have one standard for how they do things and another standard for how their staff does things. That never works. That will kill morale every single time. So first it might be you, Next it could be a toxic team member. Take a look at how every other member is engaged, contributing to or leading within the team and how that affects the dynamic. Any one person can completely throw off the balance of an entire team. So if it's not, you, being honest and figuring out who it actually is will give you so much good information. If you determine that you have this kind of situation, you may or may not be able to do something about it immediately, but we'll get to some ideas on that in a minute.

Speaker 1:

The other thing it might be is the organizational culture or even the structure. Organizational culture can be a real bear to tackle, especially if the culture has been developed or allowed to grow without checks and balances for many years, but when the leadership is dedicated to truly making a difference and the team can see it, morale begins to shift, upping engagement and ownership. Keep in mind, however, this is mostly effective and actually really helpful in small to mid-sized organizations. Tackling this in larger situations can be a real challenge and take many years. I just want to keep expectations real Now. Organizational structure, however, can make an immediate difference, especially in small to mid-sized organizations, because clear boundary lines can be established. People can be placed in positions that highlight their strengths, skills and abilities and allow for new leaders to emerge. If people are in leadership roles not suited to their strengths, skills or abilities or values, even the organization will struggle. If the structure of an organization or a team inhibits information flow or leadership development, the whole organization will stagnate.

Speaker 1:

Once you figure out the problem, once you diagnose it, you need to know all your players, every single one of them. What are their strengths, what are their skills? Are they in the right positions based on that information? How are they wired to communicate? This is where disc types come in very handy. Just knowing how best to communicate with someone can clear up misunderstandings and frustration, allowing for peace and productivity. What are their interests? Have you invested time and understanding where they're coming from. Do you know their dreams and aspirations for their work, for their life? Do they know these things about you? All of that stuff will help you diagnose what's going on, figuring out your people, and then be able to use all of that data to create imaginatively. This is where you get to build respect through demonstrating your own abilities and skills and uncovering, highlighting and developing the skills and abilities of the individual team members. This is also how you can demonstrate, or role model, regard for their feelings or traditions. Here's some ideas.

Speaker 1:

Number one get creative about solutions. If your organization isn't where you want it to be structurally, culturally, productively then what you've been doing isn't working. Go back to the thinking critically part and start over Doing things the way you've always done them, because that's the way you've always done them is never the answer. You just don't need to be right about this. You also don't need to go it alone. So, too, ask for help.

Speaker 1:

This is what I do as a consultant and a coach. I use tools, workshops and coaching to give each member new information on how to best lead themselves and engage in changing the culture of the organization. I then provide the leadership with information that they need to implement changes from their perspective. One of the tools I use is disk assessments and workshops. This is where individuals learn how they're wired to communicate and lead and then how to recognize the unique communication needs of others based on their own wiring. I can't stress how earth-shaking this process can be. One client said to me and she's a team leader understanding that most of my team are Cs, which are the compliance and they're very detail-oriented. She said I now know to be more clear in how to do things. I tell them how something will impact them, using facts, and my biggest takeaway, she said with a giant smile on her face, was I slow things down. It's completely changed the engagement in her team. Another client gave me a list of all of her significant work relationships and how she's actively changing the way she communicates with each one according to their style. Yep, her emails are now getting answered, projects are getting completed and they're trusting her more and more to do her work.

Speaker 1:

Leadership coaching is working with individuals who could benefit from one-on-one attention to help them grow more quickly for any reason. They might need some basics on personal growth, or perhaps they're one of those rising star team members who just need a little nudge to set them on a really nice trajectory. Executive leaders benefit from coaching through the change process, diagnosing issues in their leadership and culture of their organization. And then there's workshops and training. You could do things on continuing education on specific skill sets or growth opportunities. This helps build the skills of your team, giving them more confidence in their work. Communication workshops, including disc and how to speak to everyone, based on their type, so that communication happens more freely and effectively. Leadership workshops and masterminds design specifically to grow individual leaders to benefit the entire organization.

Speaker 1:

Once you get through the think critically and create imaginatively process, it's time to be able to lead effectively. First, use what you've learned. If the changes need to start with you, do so. If you need help to begin diagnosing issues, ask. If you need help being creative, ask. Of course you can ask me, but there might be really helpful people around you with whom you can get a good, honest picture of what's going on. Use the people that know the situation. Next, get a little courageous.

Speaker 1:

The third tenet of intentional optimism is all about courageous leadership. There are three characteristics every good leader possesses. They are charisma, which means you value others and they can tell Trust me, and they are attracted to you, so they follow or they listen. Servanthood putting others first. You know this is the best way to lead Seriously And vision, seeing what can be and sharing that with others. Ask yourself how you could live into or embody more courage Which characteristic of a courageous leader is most needed in your leadership And become just a little wiser, which is the fifth tenet of intentional optimism.

Speaker 1:

To be intentionally optimistic in this area, you need to look at the way that you see things. Number one, which is your understanding. Are you willing to see all the sides? Like is the problem you? Is it a team member Or is it the culture? You need to be willing to see the undercurrents the spiritual, the physical, the mental. Maybe somebody is in pain, or maybe there's a pain in relationships, in the actual team, but there's realities in the world around you that you need to be willing to see. Next, it's how you speak. What are the words that you use? Are you careful, understanding that words matter and using ones that are helpful, encouraging and that build others up? And then you need to look at what you do.

Speaker 1:

This is about respect, right. Once people trust you, they can learn to respect you. It's given after trust is earned. So modeling respect for those you lead, understanding and setting boundaries this is respected because you respect first. You see, you can change the culture of your team or organization. You can have an impact on engagement, trust and respect. You might need some paradigm shifts. We can do that. You might need some new communication skills. We can do that. Your team, your organization. They deserve for you to be the best leader you can. Even if you're not the boss, your team needs you to step up and embrace the responsibility of thinking critically so that you can come up with some creative and imaginative solutions to help lead the organization effectively. It starts with you. You are the leader, even if you're not the formal leader of the team. Trust for others flows out of trusting yourself. So building trust in your team begins with trusting them. It starts with you and you have to go first period. Additionally, respect and trust go hand in hand. You can't have one without the other. Respect is what's given after trust is earned.

Speaker 1:

My passion is to equip and empower you. So how can I help you think more critically? Do you need help creating imaginative options? Well, here I am. I equip and empower female leaders to do just that to think critically, create imaginatively and lead effectively In any situation, team or organization. I know I say that over and over, but I need you to hear it. That could be your family, your church, your community or your job Any situation where you might lead. You know it brings me great joy to watch you realize your own leadership potential, as you develop trust in yourself and your team. So the question is how can I help you Set up a 30 minute consultation where we can figure out exactly what you need?

Speaker 1:

All my links are in the show notes. All right, before you go, scroll down, hit that five star button and comment with your biggest takeaway from this episode. Then share this podcast with a friend. Women need to share when we find something good, a good message, and if this one is resonated or if there are other episodes that really hit, you share. All right, then, until next time. Oh good, you're still here because I have one more invitation for you. My newsletter, optimistic Living, is full of good stuff delivered straight to your inbox. So for weekly encouragement tips and even some special offers, hop over to my website and sign up, because unconventional leaders lead at every level, in any area, using their unique gifts And you, my friend, are a leader. You are the future of leadership and the role models for future generations.

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Andrea Johnson

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