Title: Building Trust Within Your Team - Sport Coaching & Leadership Blog - College of Education – Michigan State University
Headings: Sport Coaching & Leadership Blog
Sport Coaching & Leadership Blog
Building Trust Within Your Team
The Importance of Trust
Four Levels of Trust on Teams
Coach’s Role in Building Trust
A soccer coach talks to one of his athletes during practice. Taking the time to communicate openly can build trust with the players.
How to Build Trust On Your Team
Establish a Vision
Define clear Roles and Responsibilities
Reward & Sanction
Build Confidence
Communicate openly

Content: How to Build Trust On Your Team
Establish a Vision
A clear vision for the teams future lets athletes know the direction in which the team is heading. When coaches create measurable goals for the team, athletes can understand what is expected of them. Ultimately then the vision provides players with a yardstick against which they can assess the actions of the coach, their teammates and themselves. Trust is built when individuals display behavior, which is consistent or aligned with this vision and team goals. Define clear Roles and Responsibilities
A coach that has defined roles and responsibilities for his players creates accountability on their team. By doing this, the coach is accountable to the team and simultaneously makes team members accountable to each other. This accountability facilitates the building of trust since there is a clear understanding of the role each member on the team should fulfill. When everyone has clear roles and responsibilities and everyone lives up to them, then trust can be built. Reward & Sanction
Many coaches want to be friendly with their players and the team as a whole. While this is good to build camaraderie, coaches should ensure that they have in place a system that equitably rewards players when they perform and sanctions and corrects those who do not live up to expectations.