INFOGRAPHIC: 5 Tips for Building Trust in a Virtual Team 1 Apr / 2019 | By TMA World Virtual team performance is heavily dependent on achieving trust in relationships In very short-term projects, swift trust might be sufficient. By swift trust, I mean the condition in which team members assume trust is present because they have no other choice; they must trust immediately to get results fast. Swift trust tends to be fragile and is inadequate over longer term projects. What is trust? Trust is a decision. You decide to trust or not to trust. Trust means you have confidence in others – you can rely on them to fulfill promises, e.g. take care of your interests or meet your expectations. Distrust or ambivalence means you lack confidence – you are more suspicious and guarded. Trust connects people, distrust separates them. For Stephen M. R. Covey in The Speed of Trust (Simon & Schuster, 2006) , trust is a performance multiplier, not a soft, social virtue. What are the components of trust? Trust is made up of two components: character and competence. Character: Relates to how we go about getting results – it is the inner world that shapes our behaviours and includes our integrity, our motivations, caring, humility, and our ability to align our actions with our values. Competence: Relates to our abilities for achieving results based on attitudes, knowledge, skills, experiences, and education. Both components are necessary for trust, but in short-term virtual projects more weight is placed on competence. What are some key lessons about developing trust on virtual teams? We hope you’ve enjoyed reading our article. Why not sign up to receive our newsletter direct to your inbox? Click here to subscribe. We regularly share articles from industry leaders on how to perform in the global workplace as well as the latest news and trends affecting the L&D industry. Interested in how introducing a cultural intelligence tool in your business could help to create a more borderless workforce? We’d love to show you our groundbreaking platform. Share this