Whole Leaders, Wild Trust

CHAPTER 17Truthfulness and Transparency: The Courage to be Candid

Team trust lives and dies by truth.

If you’ve ever been part of a team where trust was high, you probably knew it because you could say things others might avoid. You could be honest about your challenges. You knew the person you reported to had your back. You could be open with teammates about your limitations, and they could be open with you. You weren’t guessing at who people really were—you knew them, and they knew you. That kind of clarity and confidence doesn’t happen by accident. It happens in environments where truth and transparency are expected, practiced, and safe. If you’re not sure you could say the same about your current team—or if you’re even slightly hesitant—it’s worth taking a closer look because working on a whole and trusted team changes everything.

• Whole and trusted teams have team members who trust their manager.
• Whole and trusted teams have team members who are open with each other about their strengths, their limitations, and their weaknesses.
• Whole and trusted teams have team members who know each other.

Trust at the team level is built on the willingness to say what’s necessary—and to hear what’s necessary. When team members tell the truth and show who they really are, even the hard parts, trust increases. When they don’t, it erodes. It’s as simple and as difficult as that.

When you think about the relationships in your life that you trust the most, how would you describe them? ...