We tend to think of culture as something created in company-wide events, town halls, or leadership off-sites. The truth is, culture is shaped by hundreds of tiny decisions people make every day about how much of themselves they bring to work. Each moment sends a message.

We are hearing a common theme amongst our clients recently that they want their teams to dramatically accelerate progress on key initiatives - especially when faced with complex, high stakes tasks.

It’s one thing as a leader to delegate clear cut tasks like asking one of your high performers to chair a risk committee and quite another to delegate responsibility for a complex initiative like developing a data strategy that transforms the organization. How can we improve the odds of your team making great decisions when faced with hard to solve, complex, high stakes tasks?

I was once given several stretch assignments as part of an emerging leaders program early in my career in aerospace at Bombardier. Leveraging my experience, I share four ways to accelerate development and inclusion of diverse talent.

Trust is at the basis of any high performing team. It can be built incrementally, over time, and often by small gestures. Trust is a belief that something vulnerable and important to me is safe with you. That “something” could be my thoughts and ideas, my project, my feelings, my reputation, or anything that makes me uncomfortable when leaving it at risk to your decisions and actions.

Trust building starts with having the right leadership mindset. As leaders, we need to firmly hold the belief that people are capable, trustworthy and have unlimited potential. This is a mindset of generosity – having the most generous interpretation as possible to the intentions of others. This belief provides courage that is sometimes needed to foster an environment where trust amongst our team can grow. When we work with a team, we start the day with a trust building exercise crafted to go beyond the traditional ice breaker. Genuine connection and understanding are the foundation for trusting environments.