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The Best Leaders Don't Work Alone: How Leading With Trust Builds Great Teams

Forbes Technology Council
POST WRITTEN BY
David Dewolf

Few forces rival the power of a high-performing team. NASA’s Apollo 11 team made it to the moon. Walt Disney and the animators he jokingly called his “ nine old men ” revolutionized the children's film industry. The 1985 Chicago Bears went down in history as what many still refer to as the greatest sports team of all time

One of the greatest lessons of leadership is that the best leaders don’t work alone. They become great because they know how to put together great teams. These teams make world-class discoveries, they build products that change the way we live and work and they make members feel like they are a part of something bigger than themselves. They do this by building trust and by fostering a mindset that inspires everyone to work toward a common goal. 

We may be in the middle of a digital age that can isolate us socially, but teams are more important than ever in modern business, especially in the technology industry. A study published by Harvard Business Review found that at many companies, more than three-quarters of an employee’s day is spent working with colleagues. Even further, a New York Times article that analyzed multiple team studies concluded that “groups tend to innovate faster, see mistakes more quickly and find better solutions to problems.” 

Google spent years studying effective teams. In “Project Aristotle,” which got its name because of Aristotle’s belief that “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” researchers found that it doesn’t matter so much who is on the team; what matters is how the team works together. The study found that the best teams have clear goals, find meaning in the work and feel safe to take risks. In other words, a team of A-players doesn’t necessarily mean A-results. Companies also need to foster a healthy team environment.

So, how can leaders establish this kind of environment? 

A highly productive and collaborative work environment has to start with trust. Author and CEO Patrick Lencioni found that trust is built on vulnerability -- and it’s a two-way street. Vulnerability creates an environment of psychological safety that allows teams to take risks and voice opinions without repercussion. Leaders need to make sure team members trust them, but leaders also need to trust the members of their team to make the right decisions. I always hire people who know more than I do about their area of specialization. I do that so when they make decisions, I don’t second-guess them. People thrive when they can take risks without fear of being reprimanded. 

Part of building trust is encouraging everyone on the team to be authentic. Leaders do this by being authentic themselves. If I came into work one day dressed like Steve Jobs, my team would laugh at me. When they see me lead with authenticity and vulnerability, my team members will do the same. It should be clear that everyone on the team has a valuable role to play — and that each person’s particular skills, knowledge set and personality bring something to the table.

When team members see that I trust each of them, they trust each other. Teams that trust each other feel comfortable communicating new ideas, encouraging each other and respectfully disagreeing with each other. When a team is able to align in this way, they design a better product, perform a better service and are better able to achieve a common mission. 

But while leaders should empower and trust their team members to come up with new ideas and execute decisions without micromanagement, this approach only works if leaders are also giving teams the tools and support they need to be successful. This starts with sharing the “big picture.” One thing I’ve learned after years in the software industry is that, in order to build a successful digital product, everyone on the team needs to understand what they’re building and why. They need to know the business outcome, who they’re building the product for and why. 

This is why all leaders — whether they work in traditionally digital industries or not — can benefit from having what I call a “product mindset.” Instead of separating teams by function and only giving them “just enough” information to get the job done, a product mindset embraces enterprise-wide thinking that gets everyone — from engineers to executives — on the same page. 

Here’s an example: One of our early clients came to us because they were frustrated by their team’s lack of productivity. Everyone on the team was well-qualified, but the codebase they had created was messy. As I delved deeper into their process, I realized that there was a major disconnect. The engineers knew the requirements for the code, but they didn’t understand how the company made money. No one had explained to them who the customers were — or the business value of the software. In other words, the team didn’t really understand why the software was being built. Once we recognized and addressed this problem, the company’s product started driving revenue. 

Leaders need to make sure everyone knows the company’s goals and mission, and they need to know who the product or service is for. This makes good business sense. In product design, for example, when engineers understand the big picture, they can prioritize the features they know are important to the customer and remove features that are not useful. This drives more significant outcomes. 

The best leaders harness the collective power of great teams by giving them the freedom to take risks — but also the tools and knowledge they need to succeed. At the end of the day, a strong leader can build a good company, but a strong team can build a great one. 

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