Trust is the currency upon which relationships are forged and deepened. The deeper the trust between people, the more productive and resilient they can act together as a team. Trusting others means you believe they are reliable, and that you have confidence in them. And yet trust is a multi-faceted thing. There is no one type of trust. It’s important to delineate between the different types of trust that exist and are required between team members.
Here are six distinct types of trust that when fostered between team members help to maximize their ability to coordinate action, collaborate more effectively and to consistently produce outstanding outcomes.
Interpersonal Trust
This is the type of trust most commonly associated with the word “Trust” and refers to believing in one’s sincerity, experience, intentions and ability to be relied on for relationship support during times of challenge. This is the type of trust we associate with close friendships. Interpersonal trust is built over time, however, there are exercises that teams can go through, such as storytelling, to deepen interpersonal trust by getting to know one another more deeply and connecting with the humanity of each team member.
Emotional Trust
Emotional trust refers to one’s sense of psychological and emotional safety felt around another person. Its level of depth correlates to one’s ability to feel vulnerable in front of others. This is the type of trust we feel with family members, spiritual leaders and even therapists. Emotional trust also takes time to deepen and requires sharing increasing amounts of vulnerability between team members.
Technical Trust
This is trust in one’s technical skill or in a system’s technological efficacy. Technical trust is garnered via knowledge and understanding of the technical skill required, as well as a consistent demonstration of its implementation to produce desired outcomes. This is the type of trust we have in surgeons, electricians and mechanics for example. Teams often spend little time on technical trust until problems arise. Teams need to know what technical skill and/or technology is required, where it is to come from, and who is responsible for its consistent deployment.
Performance Trust
This trust refers to one’s ability to rely on another person’s consistent achievement of goals and objectives. This type of trust is present between members of sports teams and high performing business teams. Performance trust is built via agreements and commitments team members make with one another. Although no one can guarantee a commitment’s outcome, everyone can honor their agreements by letting others know when the desired outcome is at risk and the agreement needs to be renegotiated. Performance trust is about caring for the creditor.
Knowledge and Capability Trust
This type of trust refers to one’s ability to confidently rely on the knowledge and capability required for a particular task being there as needed. This is the type of trust we have in college professors, hair dressers, and doctors to name a few. Similar to technical and performance trust, this type of trust deepens as others learn more about another team member’s knowledge and specific capabilities and their ability to apply them consistently, fluently and at the service of others.
Ethical Trust
Ethical trust refers to one’s ability to share and apply values in situations of challenge. This trust includes one’s ability to rely on another person’s judgement of others and situations. This is the type of trust we want to feel for court judges, politicians, coaches and parents. Like all the other types of trust discussed thus far, ethical trust also takes time to develop as people have to experience values in action in a variety of situations and contexts.
In order to deepen trust in its many forms within a team, it first takes awareness of the different types of trust that need to be fostered. Only then can team members consciously engage in building all types of trust that impact team performance.
Consider how these different types of trust are at work within your team. Which types are stronger? Which types could benefit from deepening further? Then ask yourself what can be done to deepen these areas of trust. The Internet is full of useful exercises you and your team can engage in to deepen each one of these trust types.
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