Trust comes in several varieties

Trust is the bedrock of solid teams and strong communities. There are two basic kinds of trust: trusting character and trusting competence.

Generally, when we talk about trusting someone, we mean that we trust their character. It’s another way of saying that we think someone has integrity and honest intent.  When we trust someone’s character we find them open, caring, honest, fair and authentic.

We all appreciate living and working with these kinds of people.

Trusting someone’s competence means that we can count on them to produce results. This kind of trust is built on credibility, skills, knowledge and performance.  This is what we mean when we say that we can trust someone to get the job done.

Of course, it’s entirely possible to trust someone’s character but not their competence.  We can genuinely like a person because they are authentic and honest, while knowing they don’t consistently produce results.  Or, alternatively, we all work with smart, capable people who continually perform but would stab you in the back at the drop of a hat.

So how do we build teams of character and competence?

At Shafer Leadership Academy we consider trust the foundation of good teams and strong communities. We help individuals, companies, and social benefit organizations build trusting teams. We provide intentional activities, and supportive learning communities, designed to emphasize character and develop competence. Just as importantly, we explore a process that builds on trust, to help teams work through conflict, commit to decisions, hold each other accountable, and ultimately produce results.

The process is called The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team and the program launches April 26.

Visit www.shaferleadership.com to start your journey of building a trusting team.

Mitch Isaacs is the executive director for Shafer Leadership Academy, a Muncie-based nonprofit organization with a vision to see vibrant communities and workplaces developed within East Central Indiana supported by skilled, collaborative and engaged leaders.