Chapter 4

TRUST

As organizations, nations, and statesmen fail in the eyes of the public, trust has become a scarce commodity in society. Now more than ever, big business is a target of social distrust. However, organizational trust should actually be high on the priority list of any company that wants to be around in the future. Too many organizations ignore the importance of engendering trust and then find themselves in trouble later. A VPMO must understand how to build organizational trust in order to keep the organization vibrant and healthy.

Trust is difficult to create within a virtual organization because there are several factors already working against it. The problem with creating virtual trust is two-fold. The first problem, which exists in any organization (including a VPMO), is that people have a need to create separation between themselves and others. The second is that the more virtual the organization, the less communication there is between individuals, so trust is harder to build.

The first obstacle to building trust is an inherent part of being human, so it will be a continual struggle. People intrinsically want to be held apart from others—but they do not want to be alone. They want to feel as if they are part of a group, which can be defined internally or externally. It is easiest to define a group by external forces. The moment there is a visible separation between people—the moment they can claim “my nation,” “my state,” “my city,” “my neighborhood”—the concept of a group exists. With this separation comes the concept of the “other,” which is a barrier to trust because it creates a division that must be overcome.

Trust is an integral part of a successful virtual team (Anderson et al. 1998; Duarte and Snyder 2006; Lipnack and Stamps 1997; Handy 1995). But building trust in this kind of organization can be more difficult than in a traditional organization. Within a virtual organization, one challenge to building trust is that the organization will create its own boundaries based on prior project teams or functional areas, which can create rifts within the organization. The virtual project management office must then create commonalities between people to mitigate any internal divisions. But if the natural reaction is to distrust those who are separate from us, how can people who are not collocated come together? How can the VPMO create a feeling of trust between people who may have little connection with one another? On top of the challenges inherent in building trust between people who work in disparate locations and who may barely know one another, virtual team membership may be fluid and short-lived.

The project manager must be the one to draw together the project group in a way that builds community. To create and maintain trust, the leader of a virtual team should establish, maintain, and evolve consistent values and boundaries. Respect for others is an essential part of building trust. It’s particularly important for supervisors in a virtual environment to trust and respect virtual employees (Anderson et al. 1998). Supervisors can create a sense of trust and respect by keeping their word; holding individuals accountable; establishing an ethical standard, living by it, and ensuring that project members live by it as well; and being a dependable source of support for the team at any time. Here are some initiatives that can help build community in a group, which in turn generates trust:

• Team newsletters

• Logo wear to celebrate a specific project

• Stakeholder meetings

• Celebrations of team successes

• Recognition of team and individual efforts.

The single greatest factor in building trust is team success. If a project is successful, trust suddenly materializes. Suddenly everything is golden and good, and team differences fade into the background. If project success is the panacea for trust, then project failure is its nemesis. Project failure will torpedo any efforts to build trust faster than any other factor. The moment a project starts to falter, the faster people will try to distance themselves from the project (or organization) in order to avoid being associated with the failure, because project failure is associated with personal failure.

BUILDING TRUST

The challenge is to build trust over time, which will help to create a reserve of trust. This reserve is very important for creating long-term trust, but it is also very difficult to achieve. So where does this advice leave the project manager who is worried about trust? The best way to find out if there is trust in an organization is to ask. Give all of the project stakeholders a quick, anonymous survey, as shown in Figure 4-1.

Figure 4-1: Trust Survey

This simple survey can give the virtual project manager a lot of information. Even a small number of responses will likely represent most people’s feelings about trust in the organization.

It is, of course, much easier to assess the level of trust in an organization than it is to change the minds of everyone in the organization. Getting people who responded “no” to eventually answer “yes” is probably one of the most difficult tasks for a project manager, especially in a virtual organization. The problem is that once a certain impression is formed, it becomes hard to change, because people do not like change. All companies have in common a remarkable ability to resist change, and changing people’s level of trust is no different from trying to convince people to use a new system or process.

THE PILLARS OF TRUST

Some believe that people are forgetting the basic elements that create success. One such basic element is trust. (Note that success also leads to trust.) In the past, organizations built trust over time without too much difficulty. After all, working day after day with the same people will ultimately lead to most people trusting each other. At the very least, it would lead to people understanding one another.

In a virtual environment, of course, things are different, but many people and organizations act as if communicating by email and phone is the same as or easier than face-to-face contact. In fact, the virtual environment is the hardest environment in which to build trust. Without robust communication and contact, individuals lose touch with one another and often feel isolated and alone.

Although trust is at the core of a successful organization, and a successful project, project managers often disregard the importance of maintaining relationships and working on soft skills. Project managers often gravitate toward using the same individuals and resources for similar tasks, but over time, these relationships can start to fall apart if they are not properly maintained. They can fall out of synch and out of tune. Too often, budgets, deadlines, obstacles, stakeholders, and other situations overtake projects, and the project manager finds him- or herself without the time necessary to devote to the soft-skill parts of a project.

Research has shown that there is no magic way to build trust in a project team; an important element in creating trust is time. Even though there is no surefire way to create trust, a virtual project manager is more likely to succeed if he or she embodies and encourages in others the eight elements, or pillars, of trust shown in Figure 4-2.

Figure 4-2: The Pillars of Trust

Pillar One: Communication

The first pillar of trust is communication. Leaders must communicate to create relationships based on trust; leaders who do not remain in contact with their groups have the potential to lose the trust of their teams, and the teams’ effectiveness may decline (Cascio 2000; Handy 1995; O’Connor 2000).

Research has shown that the most robust form of communication—and the one that is most likely to build trust—is one-on-one personal interaction in which the parties consider themselves equals, despite their position in the organizational hierarchy. When equals communicate, they can freely exchange ideas, creating opportunities for improvement. Much less is accomplished when a manager simply orders a team member to do something.

Pillar Two: Predictability

The second pillar, predictability, is important because it allows team members to understand the project manager’s expectations and the needs of the project. People will follow a predictable project manager—usually because they understand his or her expectations. This is a lesson that project managers must take to heart and apply: the less accessible they are, the less predictable they are, and the less their team members will want to follow them. These team members are not actively trying to usurp their managers—they simply do not know what is expected of them.

We all know that it is easier to find an unfamiliar location when driving in full daylight than it is at night. The darkness can obscure street signs and landmarks. If we apply this metaphor to leadership, we might say that a leader whose expectations are clear is easy to follow. If his expectations are vague and shadowy, people may have a difficult time following him.

Pillar Three: Honesty

The third pillar of trust is honesty. Quite simply, project managers must be honest. Honesty is about telling the whole truth. Project managers need to pass along all of the information that is available. Too often, people in organizations tell half-truths and spin stories to make them sound better. In the end, this kind of spin control is obvious to others and is actually worse than lying. Telling half-truths makes a person appear dishonest. Project managers should either learn to tell the whole story or say nothing at all. Telling others that you cannot talk about a situation is better than passing along a partial story.

A project manager who understands people and their needs will be honest with them. Related to this, the project manager must demonstrate and embody concern for others, both on a professional level and often on a personal level, too. A leader that cares for the whole person is one with whom people will learn to be at ease. People want to be around those who put the needs of the group above the needs of the individual.

Pillar Four: Credibility

The fourth pillar is credibility, the ability of a leader to influence his or her constituency based on the leader’s personal values and reputation. A credible leader does what he says he will do and tells others about what he does. Credibility is also about doing the right thing at the right time. It is not to be confused with honesty, for honesty is about telling the truth, while credibility is about taking action based on what one believes. An honest person will tell the truth, but a credible person will act on those personal truths at every opportunity.

Pillar Five: Passion

The fifth pillar is passion. Making a convincing argument for a cause you believe in is an expression of passion. A leader must display passion for the task and passion for the project. Beyond the project, a successful project manager must also express an interest in the team, the organization, and the community. Expressing these passions will set a high standard that others will want to follow.

Pillar Six: Courage

The sixth pillar of trust is courage: the willingness to stand up for one’s beliefs, challenge others, and admit mistakes. It is very important for project managers to have the courage of their convictions and the courage to stand up for those beliefs, even when doing so is difficult or they go against those of the majority. They do not care if others agree; what they want is for others to at least listen and consider their opinion. Courageous people also have an ability to change, even if they resisted change before.

Pillar Seven: Competency

The seventh pillar of trust is competency. A leader must be competent in her role, and she should have a high degree of expertise in a particular area of the project. She does not need to excel or even be competent in every role on a project, but she must understand the work to be done on a high level. For example, the project manager does not have to be the best coder, but she must at least understand the purpose of the coders’ work. Without some level of technical competency, a leader may not be seen as a doer. She might be seen as someone who can issue orders but cannot execute anything on her own. This can breed resentment; others will wonder how the leader attained the position in the first place.

Pillar Eight: Integrity

The eighth and final pillar of trust is integrity. A project manager with integrity respects himself, the team, and others; more specifically, he respects others’ beliefs and the personal culture of individuals and the team. He acts with restraint, and he rises with the tide instead of trying to force back a rising sea of change. Because he makes an effort to do the right thing for the team, he is an accepted part of any decision-making process. Others will trust him and will want to consult him when problems arise and include him when rewards come.

Focusing on these pillars is not the only way to build trust, but the pillars are certainly some of the best practices available to a virtual project manager. Too often, other ways of creating trust take more time than the project manager has. Trust must be built quickly to make a project successful. Consistent success is based on the ability to deploy a trusted team that is able to hit the ground running on a new project.

ASSESSING TRUST

A trust checklist can help identify the elements of trust that exist and that are lacking in an organization. The checklist in Figure 4-3 offers 40 sample questions that are related to the pillars of trust discussed above. To assess yourself and your organization, choose the most accurate response from these five: 1 – Strongly disagree, 2 – Somewhat disagree, 3 – Neutral, 4 – Somewhat agree, 5 – Strongly agree. (Note, affirmative answers are not necessarily good and negative answers are not necessarily bad.)

Figure 4-3: Trust Checklist

MANAGING POLITICS

Technology has created numerous ethical and political issues in business. Technology has facilitated the virtual environment; politics make it more complex. The project manager must accept that politics affect even the virtual environment and learn either to become a political leader in his or her organization or to become a political follower. The project manager who chooses to ignore company politics can find him- or herself a political victim. Projects by their nature are political. Project managers need to use soft skills to convince stakeholders to support a project that may or may not suit their particular needs. In fact, the project may take the organization back a step or cause a downsizing. The project manager needs to deal with the stakeholders and by default becomes involved in politics.

Political Leader

A political leader advertises her projects, which is important in a virtual environment because project teams might not be able to have water cooler chats with others in the organization. When there is no regular social contact between employees, projects that are not promoted can be forgotten. People cannot be part of a great project if no one knows about the project! Leaders who talk up their work will “sell” more—attract more interest—than those who do not seek out “customers.”

Political Follower

A political follower makes sure that his or her projects fulfill the objectives of the organization. Projects considered integral to the organization’s overall strategy are more likely to gain support and be successful.

Political Victim

Project managers who do not bother to advertise their projects, then learn that the projects are not fully supported by the organization, become political victims. Sometimes a project manager becomes so caught up in saving an over-budget or late project that he forgets that the project is part of the bigger picture: the organization. If a project is not integrated into the organization, the project manager might find himself out of a project—and even out of a job.

TRUST PITFALLS

There are two common pitfalls regarding trust. These often lead to the failure of virtual teams.

• Managers often believe that a successful team should be left alone.

• Sometimes managers think that trust is permanent rather than transient.

Once the manager of a virtual team feels that the team has come together and is functioning effectively, he may believe that there is little else left to do, other than to keep out of the way. Although this hands-off approach could be an effective method for handling a face-to-face team, a virtual team requires additional contact to keep it together and functioning. It is not easy for a manager to continue to monitor and communicate regularly with the team, but this is the only effective way to maintain unity and trust.

Although it is essential for the virtual project manager to monitor the team, he must learn to communicate in a manner that is not intrusive. He must trust that the team will make the right decisions. At the same time, it is important that team members feel able to make the right decisions without always checking in.

Regarding the second pitfall, the truth is that trust needs to be built up on a regular basis. Trust is more like a checking account than like a savings account—the money in the account gets spent and must be replenished. It is not saved for a long period of time. A project manager must learn to continuously fill the account in order to keep trust up in the group.