Building trust across teams with no shared history

The lesson I take from so many dispersed teams I’ve worked with over the years is that great collaboration is not about shrinking the distance. It is about deepening the connection. Time zones, language barriers, and cultural nuances make working together across borders uniquely challenging. I see these dynamics regularly: smart, dedicated people who care deeply about their work but struggle to truly see and understand one another. One of the tools I often use in my work with global teams is the Harvard Business School case titled Greg James at Sun Microsystems. It tells the story of a manager leading a 45-person team spread across the U.S., France, India, and the UAE. When a major client system failed, the issue turned out not to be technical but human. Each location saw the problem differently. Misunderstandings built up across time zones. Tensions grew between teams that rarely met in person. What looked like a system failure was really a connection failure. What I find powerful about this story, and what I see mirrored in so many organizations today, is that the path forward is about rethinking how we create connection, trust, and fairness across distance. It is not where many leaders go naturally: new tools or tighter control. Here are three useful practices for dispersed teams to adopt. (1) Create shared context, not just shared goals. Misalignment often comes from not understanding how others work, not what they’re working on. Try brief “work tours,” where teams explain their daily realities and constraints. Context builds empathy, and empathy builds speed. (2) Build trust through reflection, not just reliability. Trust deepens when people feel seen and understood. After cross-site collaborations, ask: “What surprised you about how others see us?” That simple reflection can transform relationships. (3) Design fairness into the system. Uneven meeting times, visibility, or opportunities quickly erode respect. Rotate schedules, celebrate behind-the-scenes work, and make sure recognition travels across time zones. Fairness is a leadership design choice, not a nice-to-have. Distance will always be part of global work, but disconnection doesn’t have to be. When leaders intentionally design for shared understanding, reflected trust, and structural fairness, I've found, distributed teams flourish. #collaboration #global #learning #leadership #connection Case here: https://lnkd.in/eZfhxnGW

How Do You Connect People that Don’t Trust One Another❓ It happens – often. Relationships are fractured. Trust is low almost non existent between people. But avoiding each other is not an option. I recently had to do this amongst three cross functional teams as part of a broader organizational development initiative. Here’s how I responsibly and efficiently bridge fractured cross functional relationships. And got commitment from all parties from the beginning. 💡 Action 1 Created a clear plan/approach for making initial contact with each person. This was based on research, interviews and observations to understand the reality of the situation. 💡 Action 2 Connected one on one early in the project to understand more about their workplace reality and past experiences from a holistic perspective. 💡 Action 3 Understood early what each employee valued in their role and what their career plans were. Gaining an insight into each person’s motivating factors was key to shaping the focus and project approach. 💡 Action 4 Identified together where skill gaps existed in each person’s work practice and created a personalized L & D plan to respond to this. Co-designing this with each person was key to their buy in and ownership of the outcome and impact. 💡 Action 5 Acknowledged the challenges of past relationships with each person while clearly outlining the support I, and the broader organization would provide to make this experience positive.   💡Action 6 When the parties did come together I was clear on why it was key to work together differently across functions. How would it benefit them in their roles. And what they could expect from myself. 💡 Action 7 Had agreed outcomes and impact the team would deliver together. Checked in and measured progress weekly as a team with agendas that were shaped by each person.     What changes occurred as a result❓ ✳ Everyone knew what to expect from the interaction and had buy in.   ✳ People were acknowledging the support and wins of the other.   ✳ They were generously sharing intel and insights needed to deliver.   ✳ New knowledge and skill sets were developed from the experience that positively changed how they showed up and performed their role. Remember avoidance is not a long term option. How do you bridge the gaps between teams/people in your organization❔ Let me know your experiences and opinions below. 📚 I create original OD content to engage with, save and refer to later. Please follow or hit the 🔔 on my profile to get a practical and lived experience take on people, learning & growth, employee experience and organizational development. #organizationaldevelopment #leadership #culturechange #learninganddevelopment   *illustration courtesy of Yvette Pan

One of my client companies recently made a bold shift: They replaced their Engagement KPI with a Trust KPI. And it’s one of the smartest moves I’ve seen. Why? Because trust is not a byproduct of engagement - it’s the precondition. 📚 Research backs this up: A meta-analysis by De Jong et al. (2016) found that team trust is a strong predictor of performance, especially in high-interdependence teams. Yet we treat trust like something we either have or don’t. 👉But trust isn’t a mood but rather a design decision. To start with, we need to understand 3 types of trust: 1. Cognitive 2. Affective 3. Swift Most leaders focus on cognitive or affective trust - built over time. But there’s a third type they don’t know about: Swift Trust. 📍Swift Trust forms quickly in temporary, remote, or fast-moving teams. It doesn’t require deep familiarity, it requires structure. And here’s how leaders can engineer it: ✔️ Start with clearly defined roles and expectations ✔️ Align fast around shared goals and purpose ✔️ Create quick wins that build early credibility ✔️ Model openness and ask for input from day one ✔️ Name the importance of trust explicitly In other words, trust isn’t “earned slowly” in every context. It can be catalyzed intentionally if you know how. That’s what I’m helping this client do: not just educate about trust but build it inside the team with psychological safety and my method, one behavior and ritual at a time. Because when trust becomes a designed feature, not an accidental outcome - performance, inclusion, and engagement follow. P.S.: Which type of trust is most alive in your team right now?

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵-𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗥𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 — 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗥𝘂𝗹𝗲𝘀 Because 🆃🆁🆄🆂🆃 doesn’t come from policies. It 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀. The smartest leaders today know: you can’t enforce psychological safety. But you can create the conditions where it emerges — and sticks. 🧩 A small story: One of our mission-driven clients — a global non-profit — was 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴. Leadership’s first instinct was to 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘸 “𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴.” 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵: 𝗿𝘂𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀. 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗱𝗼. Instead, we co-created a 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗵𝗮𝗯𝗶𝘁: Each month, cross-functional teams would host a “🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 🅲🅸🆁🅲🅻🅴” — an informal space where team members shared one meaningful challenge or learning from their work. No slides. No status reports. Just real conversation. 𝙄𝙩 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙚. 𝙒𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙨 𝙨𝙤𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙. 𝙏𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙙𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙. Over time, teams who barely spoke began actively collaborating — not because of new rules, but because of new shared rhythms. 🐝 Here’s the thing: In a beehive, bees maintain harmony not by strict hierarchy — but through rhythms and rituals: daily patterns of movement, touch, scent, and signal that sustain collective trust. Teams are no different. 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝘀 are the social glue of high-trust teams. They 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘃𝘂𝗹𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆, 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 — far more powerfully than top-down mandates. Remember this: 👉 “𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻. 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗻 — 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹.” 🧠 🅸🅽🆂🅸🅶🅷🆃: If you want trust to last, don’t add more rules — add more meaningful rituals. 🎯 🆃🅰🅺🅴🅰🆆🅰🆈: Culture shifts through what teams regularly do together — not what they’re told. #TeamCulture #PsychologicalSafety #BeezConsultingCH