Imagine a workplace where everyone genuinely looks forward to Monday mornings. Coffee flows, ideas bounce around freely, and team members actually own their mistakes instead of making excuses. Sounds too good to be true? It doesn’t have to be! The secret ingredient isn’t fancy perks or office games—it’s trust.
Trust forms the foundation of every successful organization. Without it, you’re just a group of people sharing office space. With it, you become a dynamic team that drives innovation and collaboration forward.
In this article, we’ll explore why trust matters so much, share some compelling research, and give you practical strategies to build it—including some of our most effective Total Team Building activities that get teams connecting and collaborating like never before.
Why Trust is the Real MVP of Office Culture
We often discuss communication and relationships as soft skills, but research shows they deliver hard results for your bottom line. Trust isn’t just a feel-good concept—it’s a measurable driver of business success.
When team members trust their leaders and each other, incredible things happen. According to a comprehensive study by the Harvard Business Review, people at high-trust companies experience:
- 74% less stress
- 106% more energy at work
- 50% higher productivity
- 13% fewer sick days
- 76% more engagement
- 29% more satisfaction with their lives
These numbers are remarkable! If there was a simple way to boost productivity by 50% and reduce stress by nearly three-quarters, you’d want it for your team, right? Building trust delivers exactly these results.
On the flip side, lack of trust is costly. It slows decision-making because everyone second-guesses each other’s work. It stifles innovation because people fear suggesting new ideas. It increases turnover because nobody wants to work in an environment filled with doubt and suspicion.
The Three Pillars of Workplace Trust
So how do we build this foundation? Trust doesn’t develop overnight—it grows on three essential pillars: Consistency, Empathy, and Transparency.
1. Consistency: Walk the Walk
You can’t promote work-life balance while sending emails at 9 PM on Saturday. Trust develops through predictability. When your team knows you’ll deliver on your promises, they feel secure and confident.
2. Empathy: Be Human First
We’re all people with real lives, challenges, and emotions. Leaders who show genuine care for their team members as individuals—not just work contributors—build lasting trust. Research by Catalyst reveals that empathy drives innovation and engagement. When employees feel their personal circumstances are valued, they’re more willing to give their best effort.
3. Transparency: Share the “Why”
Secrets create suspicion. While you can’t share every confidential detail, being open about company goals, challenges, and changes helps employees feel like valued partners rather than just workers.
Actionable Strategies to Build Trust (and How We Can Help)
Ready to transform your workplace culture? Here are practical steps you can implement right away, combined with engaging Total Team Building activities that reinforce these trust-building concepts.
Encourage Vulnerability Through Shared Experiences
Patrick Lencioni, author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, emphasises that trust starts with vulnerability. This means being comfortable saying “I made a mistake,” “I need support,” or “I’m not sure about this.”
Being vulnerable in formal meetings can feel risky. It becomes much more natural when you’re laughing together while tackling fun challenges or working as a team to solve creative problems.
Activity Highlight: The Amazing Race
Nothing builds connections like navigating exciting challenges together outside the usual work environment. Our Amazing Race activity encourages teams to lean on each other’s unique strengths and talents. One person might excel at problem-solving, while another shines at communication or navigation. By day’s end, barriers come down and colleagues see each other in fresh, positive ways. This shared adventure creates a genuine “we’re all in this together” spirit that carries directly back to your workplace.
Communicate Openly and Often
Communication fuels trust. When communication breaks down, trust suffers too. But we’re not talking about sending more emails—we mean meaningful, two-way communication where listening matters just as much as speaking.
To enhance communication, you need to understand different communication styles and preferences. Does your colleague prefer direct feedback? Do they need processing time before responding?
Activity Highlight: Bridging The Gap
This engaging activity goes far beyond construction—it’s an excellent lesson in effective communication. In Bridging The Gap, teams must build separate bridge sections that connect perfectly at the end. The challenge? They have limited communication opportunities with other teams. This experience demonstrates what happens when communication fails and celebrates the success that comes from clear, precise collaboration. It’s an enjoyable, hands-on way to improve inter-departmental cooperation.
Celebrate Wins and Learn from Setbacks Together
High-trust cultures celebrate successes enthusiastically while treating setbacks as valuable learning opportunities rather than blame sessions. When teams face challenges together and support each other through solutions, their connections grow stronger.
You need to create safe spaces for collaboration where engagement runs high but pressure stays manageable.
Activity Highlight: Survivor
Inspired by the popular TV show, our Survivor challenge focuses on team unity and support. Teams compete in various mental and physical challenges—some they’ll win, others they won’t. The key learning happens in how they encourage each other after losses and celebrate wins together. It builds resilience and mutual support, demonstrating that the team succeeds when everyone contributes their best.
Level the Playing Field
Sometimes job titles create invisible barriers. To build trust, you need to create opportunities where everyone works as equals. When the CEO tackles the same challenge as a new team member, it shows leadership’s human side.
Activity Highlight: Charity Bike Build
Kindness knows no hierarchy. In our Charity Bike Build, teams collaborate to assemble bicycles for children in need. It’s a meaningful bonding experience that brings everyone together around a wonderful, shared purpose. Working together to give back to the community creates deep feelings of shared purpose and pride—essential ingredients for workplace trust.
The “Trust Equation” in Action
Charles Green, co-author of The Trusted Advisor, explains trust through this simple equation:
Trust = (Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy) / Self-Orientation
- Credibility: Are you competent and knowledgeable?
- Reliability: Do you consistently deliver what you promise?
- Intimacy: Do people feel comfortable sharing with you?
- Self-Orientation: Is it all about you, or is it about the team?
Notice that “Self-Orientation” sits in the denominator. If you focus entirely on yourself, your trust score drops dramatically, regardless of how skilled or dependable you might be.
Team building activities naturally reduce self-focus. In collaborative games and challenges, you must focus on the team to succeed. You need to share ideas, support teammates, and work together toward common goals. It shifts thinking from “me” to “we”—and that’s where real trust begins.
Moving Forward: Your Trust Toolkit
Building trust isn’t a one-time workshop—it’s an ongoing commitment. It shows up in how you run meetings, deliver feedback, and handle mistakes.
Here’s your action plan for the next month:
- Conduct a Trust Assessment: Ask your team anonymously how comfortable they feel sharing new ideas and feedback.
- Create Connection Time: Start meetings with a few minutes of friendly, non-work conversation.
- Plan a Team Building Experience: Step outside the office and break down barriers together. Whether it’s our energising Amazing Race or collaborative Bridging The Gap, giving your team neutral ground to connect delivers tremendous value.
Trust powers successful businesses. Without it, you can’t achieve the speed, innovation, or loyalty that drives growth. But when your trust account is full, your team’s potential becomes limitless.
Ready to strengthen your team’s foundation of trust? Contact Total Team Building today to plan an activity that builds genuine connections and lasting relationships. Let’s get your team communicating, collaborating, and trusting at new levels!
Total Team Building
Total Team Building