Introduction

What is trust? Why it is important in team performance? What increases or decreases the level of trust in a team? How can leaders build high levels of trust and maintain those in a team?

The answer, in short, is that without trust a team cannot function effectively – wherever they are and whatever they are doing. A lot has been written on what trust means in a wide range of contexts and situations, until now, there had not been a concerted effort to create a body of knowledge about trust as it specifically applies to diverse teams.

This facilitation handbook is based on the comprehensive Building Trust in diverse teams – the toolkit for emergency response. This toolkit was the result of the Building Trust Project, which emerged from The Emergency Capacity Building Project (ECB).

This Project commissioned research from 102 staff at headquarters and in the field, from
7 international NGOs. It found a range of practical and managerial factors that staff in the field and at agency headquarters regarded as crucial in order to launch a timely and effective emergency response. Importantly trust within teams was viewed as the second most important one (See Appendix A for more information on the other factors they found out to be crucial).

Given its importance, an accessible and adaptable set of tools was created and through each step of the process, field staff were crucial in reviewing, revising, and approving each of the tools. The toolkit was then used across the sector to improve trust in teams and consequently their effectiveness during emergency responses. But its use soon started to spread within organizations and non-humanitarian teams.

In Oxfam, feedback from the programme teams in particular demonstrated a need for a shorter and easier version to facilitate with colleagues, in simpler language. As a result, this new, concise version is aimed at all agency staff, who want to increase or build trust in their teams, wherever they sit in the organization. It focuses on 8 practical tools to be used by people who have some facilitation experience, depending on their team needs, and depending on the time they have at hand. It also summarizes the work carried out by research organizations, colleagues and partners from within the ECB agencies, which defined what trust actually means – explained in the “ten criteria for trust”.

As this is an abridged version, those who want to know more are encouraged to refer to the full initial toolkit. The latter also contains a trust index tool which can be used to carry out a more detailed analysis of trust levels in teams (see Building Trust in Diverse Teams page 22). This index maps out factors that influence levels of trust.

Finally it is important to remember that trust within a team is, of course, only the starting point. Trust between the team and the local community, between different agencies and with our donors, is also very important. But without trust in the team, communication and delivery will be inconsistent and un-co-ordinated, and trust between the team and the rest of the world will be damaged.