UPLIFT: March 10, 2022
PERSPECTIVE
Hope is not a plan, and a plan cannot be hope.
It is important to execute as if there is no plan B, for then we give our 100%.
Equally, have a plan B for when things fall apart, it helps you get back on the saddle.
Plan B is not about reducing your commitment to Plan A. In fact, it helps you focus on Plan A as you aren’t worried about ifs and buts.
Professional conundrum
Question: How do I build trust with my team?
A person’s caliber is immaterial if he/ she cannot be trusted.
When we join a new team/ company or when we have people join our team, there is a need to build trust to be able to work with each other (to meet individual and the organizational goals). While everyone understands this at the workplace, a few are able to consciously curate trust.
Over the last two decades of working, here are my takeaways on building trust.
Actively Listen and Paraphrase the WHAT and the HOW: In any set-up, particularly a new one, it is important to spend time listening actively to understanding ‘WHAT’ the manager/ team expects of you. It’s not just about what’s on your KRAs, but rather further broken down into specific tasks often involving the ‘HOW’ of execution. The challenge is, in most cases, no one will articulate the latter for you, and it’s for you to read between the lines and then volunteer to paraphrase the ‘WHAT’ and the ‘HOW’. E.g. if you are the one writing code for a specific part of an APP, it’s important to align on how you are going to do so (the format/ level of details/ documentation etc./ when is it due, etc.).
Do What You Told Them You Would Do – This is a pivotal step as if you are actions are congruent with your words, a sliver of trust is built. And then when you repeat this again, and again and again, the trust compounds.
Don’t Assume You Did It – Once having done something never assume it’s gone as per plan, always ask for feedback and alignment with expectations (especially over the first 60-90 days of working in a new role/ team).
Volunteer – In every team setting, be it at the board level or a junior sales guy or a budding analyst, there are things that are important to be done but no one wants to do them. Volunteering to pick-up, sometimes the non-glamorous but essential parts of the team’s work is another way of communicating “I am there for you”. Examples of small things could be penning down the call summary for the team, or volunteering to do the editorial review, etc.
Understand the Unsaid Values: Each team has their own set of values (e.g. voicing your individual perspective, or clear distinction between personal & professional time), and rituals (e.g. having lunch together, or not picking-up office calls after 6 PM) through which they display these values. In 90% of the cases these aren’t documented or even verbalized. Yet, with a vigilant eye you can easily unearth these. Displaying and mirroring these values, of course if they align with your own ethos, can help build the trust too.
POINT TO PONDER
What are you top three expectations from the workplace? What are the values that characterize you, and is your current workplace congruent with them?
