What the Military Figured Out About Trust That Most Teams Never Do
Hey Bold Soul,
Last week on the podcast I talked about what military teams get right about cohesion, accountability, and trust that most corporate teams never do. And the response told me we weren't done with that conversation yet.
So this week's episode goes deeper.
This week I'm answering four questions I hear from leaders and team members:
How do we build stronger bonds on our team? How do we create accountability that's actually consistent? How do we get to a place where feedback is just useful information we expect instead of something we brace for? And how do we build the kind of trust and respect that holds when things get hard?
I'm not going to make you wait for the episode to get a taste of it, so here's something worth considering right now.
The number that made my jaw drop to the floor:
Gallup found that only 23% of employees worldwide strongly agree that they trust the leadership of their organization. Fewer than one in four!!! And Google's Project Aristotle research found that the single biggest predictor of high-performing teams wasn't technical skill or experience - it was psychological safety. The degree to which people felt safe to speak up, take risks, and be wrong without being penalized for it.
We keep trying to build better teams with better processes and pizza parties when the foundation is actually about safety, trust, and the willingness to be known by the people you work alongside.
That's what the military builds first. And that's what most corporate teams skip.
One thing you can do this week:
Ask your team this question at your next meeting: "Do we all have a clear, shared understanding of what accountability looks like here - what we expect from each other and what happens when we fall short?"
Don't answer it for them. Let it marinate. Listen to what comes up.
That one question will tell you more about where your team actually is than most engagement surveys ever will.
In this week's episode you'll hear:
- Why bonds don't form on their own and what you have to do on purpose to build them
- What consistent accountability actually requires (and why most leaders avoid it without realizing it)
- How to build a feedback culture where feedback stops feeling like a verdict
- Why self-awareness is the foundation of trust, not just a nice personal development concept
- How tools like Myers-Briggs (MBTI) and the TKI conflict assessment can help your team understand why you do the things you do, how you impact each other, and how to stop taking each other's behavior so personally
This one is for you whether you lead a team, work on one, or are somewhere in between trying to figure out why the dynamic feels off.
Go listen - the link is right here: https://linktr.ee/becoming_bold_llc
A little more from me:
If any of this is resonating with what you're experiencing on your team right now, I want you to know there is a path forward. This is exactly the work I do in my team effectiveness workshops - bringing MBTI and TKI into the room, creating space for people to actually see each other, and building the kind of shared understanding that changes how a team operates from the inside out.
If that's something your team needs, reach out. The Linktree has the details on how to connect with me.
You deserve to be on a team that feels like one.
Keep becoming YOU!
Melissa
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