Is "trust" vital to win?

Andrew Strauss, the new director of cricket for the England & Wales Cricket Board this week announced that Kevin Pietersen would not be selected for England in the short-term due to "massive trust issues".

This was after Pietersen scored a career best 355 not out for Surrey and a dismal run of form for England (they desperately need a good batsman). The decision has been met with a huge amount of criticism from big name cricketers, the media and England fans.

But just how important is trust in a team? Would a team in business succeed if team members did not trust each other? Or should we just accept that not everyone will be best buddies and what you may compromise on hugs will be taken up by talent, skill and experience?

It starts with your values
I believe values in business are extremely important. They allow leadership to set the tone, direction and culture of an organisation's being. As parents we do the same at home in instilling family values to our children (and how often do we see that go through generations).

I have looked at the values of a number of organisations and a common theme throughout all of them is integrity. If you accept that integrity is a lot about trust, then many companies have trust as part of their DNA. So would you want to sacrifice that value just because you have a highly talented individual?

Relationships are all about trust
Relationships, in and outside work, rely on trust. The vows we say to each other in marriage start with "I promise to be true to you€." If you cannot trust each other, relationships will break down. In the workplace, can you really work directly with someone you cannot trust? Surely this will mean you have to spend more time than is necessary watching your back and this must mean you are not working to your full potential.

What does mistrust lead to?
The Ken Blanchard Companies carried out research and wrote a paper on Building Trust. Their research found that 59% of individuals indicated they had left an organisation due to trust issues citing lack of communication and dishonesty as key contributing factors. They conclude that productivity, revenue and profitability are all impacted by the level of trust.

Can you re-build mistrust?If someone has broken your trust, will you give them a second chance? I think everyone should be entitled to a second chance as all of us make mistakes; in fact we regularly make mistakes. It is learning from your mistakes that are most important. It seems as though Andrew Strauss is unable to do that with Kevin Pietersen. Will he live to regret that? We won't know until the end of the summer. In sport you are judged on results so if he doesn't get the results as a leader he will essentially live by this decision and be judged on it.

Finally...
Do you feel you are trusted by your colleagues and do you trust them? If not, you need to take action - the question is: can you be as brave as Andrew Strauss?