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If you may wish for a superpower for your business, what would it not be?
You might first think about a strong leadership team, a leading technology or product, or, of course, limitless profit. All of these aspects are necessary, but what about your employees and the culture of your organization?
Employees distinguish between firms that have been doing great things for a very long time and people who are failing. Fostering a culture where employees care about and trust each other can be your biggest superpower and one of the most respected investments you can make. Especially when it involves long-term business development.
However, the only technique to build a foundation of trust is to spend time together. This facilitates open communication and dealing with conflicts. Moreover, it increases worker morale and productivity. When trust and care are involved, people are more motivated to do their best work and improve relationships.
Trust allows for more practical feedback and delegation of tasks
Connecting with and trusting colleagues paves the way for more transparent communication and feedback – this is the basis of any successful team.
It all comes all the way down to trust and your relationship with that person. A high-trust environment creates a more open, high-bandwidth environment that helps solve difficult problems faster.
When it involves clear communication, a connection-first culture leaves room for more transparent conversations across the organization that debate the good and the bad. At Wistia, we take an “open book” approach where we share the whole lot from funds to business knowledge during regular all-employee meetings. This creates a more connected workplace where trust is paramount because everyone knows the schedule in advance and is working with the most accurate information.
This brings me to delegation. If you can’t delegate, you can’t scale, and trust is a major factor in this.
To be honest, I used to have a problem with delegation. I assumed it was a productivity issue, but it turned out I wasn’t making the most of my resources and team. I used to be drained, I had been attending meetings all day and things weren’t getting done. This had an impact on me and the company. I needed to make a change.
When I let go and trusted others to take over some of my tasks, it was an immediate game changer. Delegating allowed me to liberate energy and time to focus on areas of the business where I could uniquely add value and make the biggest impact. It also strengthened the remaining team members to take on further challenges.
I’ve learned that if you discover someone who can do something 80% higher than you, it is best to outsource it. Ideally, you desire to find individuals who are higher than you at what you delegate. This is where team development really drives business growth.
I needed to trust others to take more responsibility. One person cannot do the whole lot. Encourage your teams to act quickly, gather customer feedback, and move forward with confidence.
Building trust through connection
Building trust in every company will look different. And it’s a long game. At Wistia, as a long-distance company, we try to seek out fun and easy ways to get to know each other higher while consciously taking time in person. This means booking in-person meetings to build community and solve problems.
However, these meetings mustn’t focus solely on work-related discussions or be designed merely to tick a certain box. They are an opportunity for real interpersonal relationships and collaboration outside the typical work context. They also needs to feel organic, not a chore.
Host fun and unique off-site corporate events that provide recent experiences for employees to bond or encourage smaller meetings hosted by team leaders. Everything from outdoor adventures like mountaineering to more relaxing places like cooking classes are fair game. It is also necessary to be sure that the organization’s leadership team participates in these activities. This enhances camaraderie and team dynamics while laying the foundation for a strong, lasting culture of trust that carries over to virtual communication channels like Slack.
The fun shouldn’t end with in-person meetings. While some in-person activities don’t translate well online, at Wistia we have found ways to create engaging virtual experiences. From digital gaming tournaments to virtual mini-golf and online fitness breaks, there are plenty of opportunities for colleagues to get creative, connect with common interests or try something recent, all in the spirit of fun. These activities help us stay connected and build a close-knit community over time, even from a distance.
Building a culture of connection requires continually taking the right actions to take care of trust. It won’t occur overnight, but if you are committed, it is going to repay in the future. If you are a startup seeking to scale efficiently, I highly recommend adding this superpower. This can mean the difference between lasting success and failure as a business.