Listen On…
In this episode of Team Anywhere, host Mitch Simon interviews Greg Spira, a business advisor with Oliver White, about building trust in high-performing teams. Greg shares insights from his book, “Trust the Plan, Demand Management for Business Leaders,” emphasizing the importance of trust, reliability, and predictability in team dynamics. He discusses the impact of legacy perspectives on leadership and the need for leaders to prioritize building trust in the workplace. Greg offers practical tools and examples to help leaders foster trust in virtual and hybrid work environments and highlights the essential connection between vulnerability and trust in effective human-centric leadership.
Importance of Trust in Organizational Capability
Greg emphasizes the critical role of trust in building high-performing teams within organizations. Using relatable examples, he highlights how trust enables salespeople and team members to rely on each other, promoting a cohesive and effective work environment. His insights shed light on the connection between trustworthy behaviors and successful teamwork, providing valuable lessons for leaders and professionals in various industries.
Strategies for Building Trust in Virtual and Hybrid Work Environments
In the virtual and hybrid work landscape, Greg shares practical strategies for developing trust within teams. He stresses the significance of personal connections and intentional communication, advising proactive efforts to facilitate team-building activities despite remote work settings. By emphasizing the importance of credibility, predictability, and low self-orientation, he offers actionable guidance for professionals navigating the challenges of virtual collaboration.
Tools for Effective Planning and Decision-Making
Greg introduces useful tools for plan development and decision-making, emphasizing the value of simplifying complex plans to ensure clear communication and understanding. He encourages professionals to leverage practical frameworks for explaining commercial plans, empowering them to make informed decisions and drive successful outcomes. From decision-making aids to practical planning tools, his insights offer actionable resources for professionals seeking to enhance their strategic capabilities within their organizations.
Who is Greg Spira?
Greg Spira is an expert in Demand Management and Integrated Business Planning (IBP/S&OP) and works with companies to implement lasting change at all levels and across functions by building organizational capability and developing high-performing teams. He has written and co-authored many white papers on Demand Management and is an instructor of the Oliver Wight Demand Management course. His new book, Trust the Plan: Demand Management for Business Leaders (J. Ross Publishing, April 18, 2023), shares how to ensure cross-functional collaboration, alignment of plans, and teamwork in any Demand Plan process.
- Website: www.gregspira.ca
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregspira/
How to Create A High-Performance Remote Team:
Improve Remote Team Work:
Improve Remote Leadership Skills:
How to Be an Effective Remote Manager
How to Build Virtual Accountability
Trust in Teams Quotes
It’s better to be vulnerable to your teammates. It’s better to allow people to play their positions than to try to control everything from the center. 
You can’t instruct people to trust. You’ve got to earn it 
It’s not all about me. It’s about the people that I’m working with as well. 
The ones that can do it well, the secret to success, if you distill it down, is the teams that trust each other. 
Until AI takes over for all of us, we have to deal with the people-side of it. The companies that have the best people dynamics are the ones where they trust each other to play their positions. 
When you’re working as a team and when you expose yourself to being vulnerable, it means that if you’re trusting somebody, you’re basically being vulnerable.
