Devops for Growth

Lightning Round – 3 Trust-Killers To Stop Saying

A few years ago, Google published the surprising results of a study on effective teams, in which they discovered that the primary indicator of a high-performing team is “psychological safety,” which is based on trust. Now that you’ve got a plan in place to help your team feel psychologically safe, keep an eye out for these subtle comments that will counteract the trust that you’re trying to build:

• “I’m sure you can figure it out.” Yes, she can. But she’s asking because that’s how your team agreed to operate. Answer the question if you can. Otherwise, politely say “Hmm, I’m not sure either” and attempt to point her in the right direction: “Maybe [a team leader / subject-matter expert] can help you here.”
• “Haven’t you ever… / Don’t you know…” Notice that the very first word out of your mouth here is a negative. And you’re unintentionally suggesting that the asker should know this. Maybe they should, but they obviously don’t (or they’ve forgotten, which is a completely human thing to do). No need to point that out – just answer the question.
• “Really? / Seriously? / Come On!” Apparently this isn’t obvious to everyone, so I’ll mention it here. Any sort of flabbergasted response will make a question-asker feel unsafe. Leave the emotion out of it and just answer the question.

Lightning Round – 3 Trust-Builders To Start Saying

On the flip side, here are some replacement phrases that will help validate the new Modus operandi (see what I did there?):

• “Interesting! / Good question!” Validating a question is the quickest way to encourage team members to ask more questions.
• “What have you tried already?” I often find myself simply repeating the things that my colleague has already tried. This causes frustration for both of us, so I’m trying to be more of a listener nowadays. This question can often give way to the rubber-duck effect, and voilà! You’ve solved your colleague’s problem with nothing more than the grace of your presence.
• “Is there anything useful in the documentation?” This one can be a little tricky, as you don’t want to suggest that you wish they’d checked the documentation before asking you. It’s a valid response, however, and as long as it’s said kindly, this is often a good place to start.