Every moment, each of us makes a decision about how much to trust the person in front of us. Every decision, every action, every conflict involves me (and everyone is a “me”) choosing how vulnerable I will be with you (and everyone is also a “you”). I choose whether or not I will share my ideas, how much support I will give you, whether or not I will try to reach resolution if we disagree, and how much help I will show you I need. Two people at a time, team members have to trust one another and build intimacy. When pairs of team members close the trust gaps between them the team becomes a resilient web of interpersonal connections that is greater than the sum of its parts. When we close the gaps between us, the sum looks like agility, effectiveness, engagement, cooperation, creativity and innovation. When we let the gaps between us drift open, the sum show up as waste, disengagement, heaviness of process, need for certainty and control, lack of creativity and “every man for himself. The Core Commitments and Protocols (The Core) is a set of simple rules and tools that help build and support the trusting two-person connections we need to make in our teams, organizations and communities to be agile, creative, innovative and effective. Vickie Gray is the author of Creating Time.
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