Building trust in high-performing teams is the foundation of long-term success — and the starting point for all healthy relationships. But in today’s workplace, trust is often in short supply.
You can’t mandate trust. You can’t fast-track it. You earn it through clarity, consistency, and a shared sense of purpose. Without it, team dynamics unravel. Collaboration breaks down. Performance stalls. But when trust is present, everything changes.
I’ve seen it time and again: when people feel seen, supported, and empowered, they show up differently. They contribute more freely, collaborate more effectively, and commit more fully to shared goals. Building trust in high-performing teams isn’t just good leadership — it’s your competitive advantage.
Why Trust Leads to High Performance
Trust isn’t a soft skill. It’s a performance strategy. It drives results you can measure — from productivity and innovation to retention and engagement. The research backs it up: teams that operate with high trust consistently outperform those that don’t.
Here’s how building trust in high-performing teams drives impact where it matters most.
Enhanced Collaboration
Trust breaks down silos. When people trust one another, they’re more likely to speak up, share ideas, and seek input without fear of judgment. It creates a culture of contribution where the best ideas win — not just the loudest voices. That kind of collaboration isn’t just good for morale; it’s a catalyst for innovation and speed.
Improved Team Dynamics
Conflict doesn’t disappear in high-performing teams — it just gets handled differently. Trust creates the psychological safety people need to challenge each other respectfully and take smart risks. It removes the fear factor, so your team spends less time navigating politics and more time driving results.
Increased Accountability
In a low-trust environment, accountability feels like punishment. In a high-trust culture, it feels like ownership. People hold themselves and each other to a higher standard — not because they have to, but because they want to. They care about the work and don’t want to let each other down.
Sustained Engagement
When people trust their leaders and teammates, they stay connected — not just to their work, but to the mission. Trust breeds loyalty. It keeps people motivated, committed, and inspired to contribute their best, day in and day out. That’s the heartbeat of any high-performing team.
How to Build Trust and Foster High-Performing Teams
Trust isn’t built on intention — it’s built on action. If you want a high-performing team, it’s not enough to talk about trust. You have to lead in a way that earns it, reinforces it, and protects it.
Here’s how effective leaders put trust into practice, every day.
Set Clear Standards
Standards are the foundation for building a high-performing team. They set the tone for how everyone is treated, communicated with, and held accountable. In my own experience, I’ve found that when leaders outline clear expectations for themselves and their teams and “walk the talk,” trust follows. People know what to expect, and they know what’s expected of them.
At ImpactEleven, we call these “operating principles.” They establish agreements on how we work together, and it’s the team leader’s job to communicate and uphold these principles.
Whether you call them operating principles, core values, standards, or something else, you need to outline how others are treated, communicated with, evaluated, and held accountable in your organization.
To zero in on your principles and your team’s standards, answer the following:
- What expectations do you have for team communication and collaboration? And what happens when an employee falls short of those expectations?
- Which processes will you have in place to help others stay accountable in their tasks (e.g., performance reviews)?
- How will you set benchmarks and evaluate individual and overall team performance to ensure everyone is treated equally?
Trust stems from seeing these standards applied consistently. It’s essential for building high-performance teams, where leaders model these behaviors and team members follow suit.
Communicate Openly
Communication is the lifeblood of trust and a key factor in managing teams effectively. However, poor communication can erode trust quickly. Once you’ve set your standards of excellence, ensure your team is aligned. Create communication strategies and team goals around these standards. Apply them consistently and fairly. Upholding them is just as important as setting them.
Research from Gallup highlights the importance of clarity in communication. During the pandemic, 55% of employees felt their leaders communicated clearly about their COVID-19 response. By mid-2022, this figure had dropped to just 22% regarding post-pandemic plans. This gap underscores the importance of open, transparent communication, especially in navigating change.
It’s no surprise that we’ve seen so much debate over return-to-office policies and ongoing support for hybrid and virtual teams. The expectations for employees are no longer clear, especially if they were told one thing and now are hearing something else.
To foster trust:
- Create an open work environment where team members feel safe to share their thoughts.
- Encourage meaningful conversations that go beyond surface-level interactions.
- Use emotional intelligence (EQ) to connect with team members and build relationships, ensuring team members feel seen, heard, understood, and valued..
Transparent, consistent communication can help people feel connected, safe and inspire confidence toward a compelling vision of the future.
Show Care Consistently
Consistency is critical for building trust, maintaining team culture, and managing expectations. Leaders who fail to follow through on commitments or tolerate negative behaviors like gossip risk undermining trust and damaging team dynamics.
When there are inconsistencies or discrepancies between what we say and do, trust can quickly erode. If I tell my team that we’ll do something next Monday and then fail to follow through, I lose credibility as a trustworthy leader. This can also occur when behaviors such as backstabbing, gossip, and infighting are tolerated. Holding people accountable one week but not the next sends a mixed message and undermines trust.
Trust is built incrementally through consistent, positive interactions. Think about when you began to trust someone at work. It likely wasn’t within the first hour of meeting them. Trust is earned incrementally through a series of positive interactions and deposits in the relationship bank.
Team members need to see their leaders invested in their success, well-being, and growth. Showing care consistently requires time, emotional intelligence, and a genuine commitment to serving others.
To demonstrate care:
- Follow through on promises, big or small.
- Hold individuals and teams accountable in a fair and consistent manner.
- Foster a work environment that prioritizes development and celebrates diverse perspectives.
Consistency strengthens relationships and creates a culture where team members feel supported, valued, and motivated to succeed.
Your people need to know that you are invested in their development, success, fulfillment and wellbeing. That mandates a meaningful commitment of time, emotional intelligence and genuine interest in serving others.
The Trust You Build Is the Team You Become
Leading a high-performing team is not just a job — it’s a profound responsibility. By prioritizing trust, open communication, and consistent care, leaders can transform team dynamics and foster long-term success.
To fully embrace the responsibility and opportunity to impact others, I invite you to try this four-question exercise in your next team meeting. Open up the conversation, listen with empathy, and watch what happens next!
Ready to help empower your teams with everything they need to achieve optimal performance? It starts with leading from a place of connection, collaboration, and trust. Learn how to bring a human-centered approach to your leadership.
