By Todd “Ish” Israelite
Why Trust and Safety Matter for Organizational Health
In Project Aristotle, Google examined what makes a capable team and discovered some surprising truths. They expected the key to be who was on a team, but instead found that how team members interact is far more important.
The presence of trust, openness, and psychological safety within a team is what allows people to thrive and work cohesively. For senior leaders, this is one of the most important levers for building organizational health.
Think about your own experience working on disjointed teams. We’ve all been there, or maybe you’re there now, on a team where there’s little accountability, limited collaboration, or fear about speaking up. When teams act with trust and openness, those harmful dynamics are much less likely to take hold. It’s less about who is on a team, and much more about how they work together.
The Five Dysfunctions of Teams
Patrick Lencioni’s book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team describes common pitfalls that prevent teams from growing together. If a team fails to become cohesive and high-performing, it’s often due to one or more of the following dysfunctions:
- Absence of trust
- Fear of conflict
- Lack of commitment
- Avoidance of accountability
- Inattention to results
For executives, recognizing these dysfunctions is the first step to improving team performance and organizational health.
What Successful Teams Have in Common
When there are high levels of trust on a team, people feel more at ease, collaboration strengthens, and fear begins to fade.
The New York Times Magazine article, What Google Learned From Its Quest to Build the Perfect Team, describes five traits that consistently show up in successful, cohesive teams:
- Psychological safety: Team members feel safe to take risks and be vulnerable.
- Impact: Members believe their work matters and creates change.
- Meaning: Work is personally important to each person.
- Structure and clarity: Clear roles, plans, and goals are in place.
- Dependability: Members follow through on commitments with high standards.
Psychological safety stands out as the single strongest predictor of success.
Building Trust and Psychological Safety
At sr4 Partners, much of our work with clients begins with cultivating trust and cohesion. To get there, leaders must first understand why teams are dysfunctional in the first place. Building trust takes time, but it starts with actions that create connection and openness:
- Listen deeply: Ask questions and truly hear the answers.
- Model vulnerability: Share your own challenges openly.
- Align actions and words: Be consistent and reliable.
- Safeguard trust: Protect it once it develops, because it is fragile.
Trust requires vulnerability, and leaders set the tone by demonstrating it first.
Small Steps, Big Impact
We encourage leaders to commit to at least one activity that demonstrates openness and trust with their teams. See how it shifts performance, collaboration, and engagement.
Small steps, taken consistently, create big and lasting change not only for your team but for the overall organizational health of your company.
At sr4 Partners, we believe trust and psychological safety are essential to organizational health.
If you are looking to strengthen how teams collaborate, speak openly, and hold one another accountable, learn more through an upcoming training. You can also explore how sr4 can support you through a complimentary initial conversation.