There are a number of crucial elements required to create high performing teams. I have worked with many different types of teams in different contexts over the past 25 years and have picked up a few strategies that might help. The foundational element needed to create an effective team is that often elusive characteristic of TRUST! Despite what people say trust is earned. But don’t look at this as an obstacle – “Just go out and earn it!” There are some fundamental steps to take in order to earn trust. One key is to take the time to understand your team member’s perspectives on trust. It helps to understand that there are four main characteristics of trust, and people tend to have a more dominant focus on one or two of these characteristics. The four main traits of trust are reliability (do what you said you would when you said you would), openness (being transparent to feel free to share information and opinions with team members), acceptance (that I know if I share something about our work, no matter how negative it might be, that I as a person am respected and safe from personal attack) and directness (not brutal bluntness, but feeling free to directly give and receive helpful feedback) (Dr. Ralph Colby). Inevitably, we all tend to view others through our own interpretive filters, thus if a team member (or team leader for that matter) highly values reliability and another in the team esteems acceptance it can cause a value conflict, undermining team trust.